ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Compensation (Destroyed Animals)

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the percentage of compensation payments for animals destroyed because of (a) suspected foot and mouth and (b) bovine tuberculosis which may have been paid at above the level of average market values in each of the past five years.

Ben Bradshaw: No estimate has been made of what percentage of the compensation payments for animals compulsorily slaughtered because of FMD in 2001 were above the level of average market values. The average value for each type of livestock increased during the epidemic, peaked in May 2001 and gradually declined. No compensation for FMD was paid in each of the other four years.
	For bovine tuberculosis it is not possible to provide a meaningful assessment of the percentage of animals that might have received compensation over and above "average market values". However, there is evidence to show that the provision of above market value compensation has been a significant problem in England and Wales, particularly since the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in 2001. This is one of the reasons why my Department will shortly be consulting stakeholders on a proposed new compensation system.

Composting/Recycling

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of households in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley which (i) composted and (ii) recycled in the last period for which figures are available.

Elliot Morley: Local authorities do not currently report on the number of households participating in recycling and composting schemes, or the numbers that carry out home composting. The 2002–03 Municipal Waste Management Survey established that 14.5 per cent. of household waste in England was recycled, about one third of which was centrally composted. Chorley borough council recycled and composted 16 per cent. of household waste, and Lancashire county council 20 per cent. The Government's Best Value Performance Indicators for local authorities show that in 2002–03, 86 per cent. of the population of Chorley were served by a kerbside collection scheme, or lived within 1 km of a recycling centre. The regional average for Lancashire was 80.3 per cent.

Composting/Recycling

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK households are recycling and composting; and whether the national target is being met.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 1 November 2004
	Waste is a devolved issue. In England, the Government have set national targets to recycle or compost 17 per cent. of household waste by 2003–04 and 25 per cent. by 2005–06. The latest (2001) Defra survey of public attitudes to quality of life and to the environment found that in England, paper was recycled on a regular basis by 53 per cent. of households, glass by 42 per cent. cans by 30 per cent., plastic by 23 per cent. and kitchen waste by 20 per cent. Local authorities do not report on the number of households participating in recycling schemes or on the numbers that carry out home composting, but the 2002–03 Municipal Waste Management Survey identified that 14.5 per cent. of household waste was recycled in England, about one third of which was centrally composted. Audited figures for 2003–04 are expected in December.

Cormorants

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many licences to shoot cormorants have been (a) applied for and (b) granted since her Department announced its change of policy on obtaining such licences on 14 September.

Ben Bradshaw: The announcement of new measures to help alleviate cormorant predation problems at fisheries was made on 16 September 2004.
	Up until 22 October, the Department has received 195 applications for a licence to kill cormorants to prevent serious damage to fisheries. Of these, we have granted 104.

Cormorants

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2004, Official Report, columns 695–96W, on cormorants, what non-lethal alternatives to culling she is considering to control the population of cormorants.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 1 November 2004
	There are a number of non-lethal methods that can be used to control cormorants. These include the use of enclosures, scarers, roost management, stocking control and fish refuges. Further details may be found in a technical advice note:
	www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/rds/publications/technical/TAN 14.pdf

Cormorants

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2004, Official Report, columns 695–96W, on cormorants, what advice her Department has received from the Moran Committee regarding deterrents to predation by cormorants of fish stocks.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The Moran Committee was set up in 1997 to provide a co-ordinated platform of organisations to address angling and fisheries issues. The Committee has recently forged links with other nature conservation groups such as the Environment Agency, English Nature and the RSPB in order to identify common ground on the bird predation issue and to ensure that a reasonable balance is struck between the need to conserve both fish and birds. The Group has also established a useful dialogue with Defra and CEFAS.
	The Committee has provided advice through producing leaflets such as "Cormorants—The Facts" and "Protecting your Fisheries from Cormorants". Further information may be found on www.cormorants.info

Departmental Publications (Accessibility)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of publications issued by her Department are available in (a) Braille, (b) autoprint, (c) large print and (d) easy read format.

Alun Michael: Defra's policy is to follow best practice on diversity and to ensure that publications meet guidelines on type size, font clarity and general ease of readability.
	We make all publications available on demand in Braille, large print format and audio. During the past year, we have fulfilled 20 requests for Braille publications and one for audio.

Eastern Irish Sea Fishery

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether she plans to seek EU Commission approval for Fleetwood fishermen to use 110mm mesh in cod ends in the plaice fishery in the Eastern Irish Sea while retaining their full allocation of 22 days at sea per month;
	(2)  what representations she has received from Fleetwood fishermen on effects of the operation of the Cod Recovery Plan on the plaice fishery in the Eastern Irish Sea; and what action she has taken in response.

Ben Bradshaw: I have met representatives of the Fleetwood fishing industry on several occasions this year. They expressed concerns that the EU days at sea scheme did not allow them sufficient days to use their preferred 100mm plus nets to target plaice and that they were therefore forced to use smaller mesh nets (which attracted a higher number of days) and thus increase their catches of undersized and juvenile fish. My officials explained that the scheme did, in fact, allow them to continue with their normal fishing patterns and offered to provide individual guidance, where required, to the fishermen concerned—which was subsequently taken up. Separately, we are discussing with the commission potential improvements to the operation of the scheme for the benefit of fishermen generally.

Eastern Irish Sea Fishery

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) quota allocations and (b) landings for cod were for the Fleetwood over 10 m fishing fleet in the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: UK fish quotas are managed by the allocation of shares of the national quota to fishermen's producer organisations for them to manage through the year. The quota allocations made to the Fleetwood Producer Organisation and their actual landings of cod in the years requested are given as follows. These data include activity by all vessels based in Fleetwood of over 10m overall length.
	
		Tonnes
		
			 Live weight of cod 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Annual quota(1)  
			 West of Scotland cod VIa, Vb(EC) 119 82 41 89 27 
			 North Sea cod 70 13 7 13 5 
			 Cod VIIa (Irish Sea) 267 121 108 152 78 
			 Cod VIIb-k 31 31 19 11 15 
			   
			 Uptake  
			 West of Scotland cod VIa, Vb(EC) 57 40 23 47 26 
			 North Sea cod 1 5 5 4 4 
			 Cod VIIa (Irish Sea) 148 89 105 99 72 
			 Cod VIIb-k 10 28 16 10 11 
		
	
	(1) End-year allocations of quota after incorporating swaps of quota with other producer organisations.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the Committee (a) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (Habitat) and (b) for the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (i) technical and (ii) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (A) proposed and (B) taken by (1) the EU and (2) the UK Government as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: (a) The Committee on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora (the Habitats Committee) met once during the period of the Greek presidency, in Brussels on 10 March 2003.
	UK representation consisted of two officials from my Department, one official from the Scottish Executive and a scientific expert from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The main agenda items considered were:
	Establishment of the Natura 2000 network
	Projects to Co-finance under Life Nature (opinion of the Committee)
	Points of Information/Progress Update (including Marine Working Group, Article 12 Working Group, Monitoring, Large Carnivores, Enlargement, Financing, Communication Issues, Article 16 and 17 Reporting and Compensation)
	At this meeting the UK representative provided technical information regarding progress on the submission of the UK list of Natura 2000 sites for the Atlantic region. In discussions concerning the Report on the Financing of Natura 2000 the UK representative highlighted the importance of marine areas for the cost estimates of the network and the uncertainties due to the outstanding designations. The UK representative also asked for clarification on the timing and format of member state's reactions to the Commission's Communication which will follow on from the Report on Financing Natura 2000.
	The Commission proposed the following actions
	Member states to submit sites for the Bio-geographic regions by the agreed deadlines
	Member states to provide comments on the Monitoring Document presented by the Commission
	Member states, who had not already done so, were asked to complete questionnaire on Large Carnivores
	Member states were requested to provide comments on the draft common report for Article 16 and 17 reporting
	As a consequence of discussions at the meeting, the Commission has adopted the Alpine List of Sites of Community Interest, published the list of successful projects for co-financing under LIFE Nature, published its Communication on Financing Natura 2000, and presented papers on Monitoring and Surveillance at the EU Nature Directors meeting on the 10 April 2003.
	(b) The EC CITES Committee (The Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora) met once during the period of the Greek presidency, in Brussels on 13 March 2003.
	UK representation normally comprises officials from my Department. At this meeting the UK representative raised a number of technical issues: introducing a discussion paper on Ivory; the use made of Article 8.2 of Council Regulation 338/97 in other member states; licensing of trade in vaccines, cell lines, etc.; the marking/identification of parts and derivatives; the role of the EU at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation meetings and the release of meeting documents to NGOs. The UK representative also asked for the implementation of the mahogany listing to be added to the agenda for the next EC meeting. On financial issues the UK representative inquired over EU financial assistance to the CITES initiative—Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme.
	The Commission proposed the following actions: adding the species "oxymura jaimaicensis" and "Chrysemys picta" to Annex D of Council Regulation 338/97 and considering further the case for the addition of "Padda Fuscata" to Annex D. The Commission also proposed looking further at: a proposal for an Annex B listing for certain Italian endemic species; intra-EU certificates for transboundary movements pending implementation of new CITES appendices; and the UK proposals in relation to the licensing of trade in vaccines, cell lines, etc. No actions were proposed by the UK.
	The Committee on Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora is chaired by the European Commission. It makes decisions, not recommendations, in relation to the implementation of Council Regulation 338/97. Copies of the Summary of Conclusions for the meeting which took place on 13 March 2003 have been made available in the House of Commons Library.

Fox Hunting

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research has been undertaken to assess the effect of a ban on the hunting of foxes on the predation of ground nesting birds; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: The Department is not aware of specific academic research into the predation of foxes on ground nesting birds. However, we recognise the damage that foxes can do to such birds. The Hunting Bill, introduced into the House of Lords, which would have introduced a general ban on hunting with dogs, included a specific exemption related to this issue. This is designed to ensure that gamekeepers or others can continue to use dogs to control pests that threaten ground nesting birds in their care.

Illegal Waste Dumping

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the successful prosecutions for illegal dumping of waste in each of the past three years; and what the penalty issued in each case was.

Elliot Morley: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Prosecutions Fines Average fine (£) 
		
		
			 2002 584 346 2,158 
			 2001 468 286 1,723 
			 2000 370 228 2,615 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Data are based on number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts under s33 Environmental Protection Act 1990.
	2. Data from 2003 will not be available until the end of November when the 2003 criminal statistics have been published.

Ministerial Expenses

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997.

Margaret Beckett: The amount spent on residential properties for Ministers and officials since the formation of Defra has been as follows:
	
		£
		
			  Maintenance Renovation Council tax Running costs 
		
		
			 2001–02 0 0 0 (2)177,565.46 
			 2002–03 0 0 0 (2)276,398.01 
			 2003–04 0 0 0 (2)204,153.01 
			 2004–05(3) 0 0 0 195,500.00 
		
	
	(2) Actual
	(3) As per forecast
	The running costs are those paid by the Department to the Cabinet office in respect of the capital charge and the costs for utilities, the Whitehall District Heating System, security and facilities management.
	Information about the costs of official residences used by Ministers for previous financial years is already in the public domain.

Organic Farming

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of organic farming on biodiversity.

Ben Bradshaw: Defra last year funded a major fully referenced study (OF0405). An Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming (May 2003). This can be seen on www.defra.gov.uk/farm/organic/research/env-impacts2.pdf
	An additional item of research is the English Nature and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds report "Does Organic Farming Benefit Biodiversity?" This has been published electronically by the journal Biological Conservation (10 August 2004).It can be seen on http://www.sciencedirect.com/science searching for "organic farming".
	Both of these reports point to a general increase in biodiversity resulting from organic farming methods.
	Defra has also funded a five year research project (OF0165)—Factors influencing biodiversity within organic and conventional systems of arable farming—which has recently been completed (30 September 2004). The full report should be available in due course.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Solar Panels

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the operation of schemes to promote solar panels.

Mike O'Brien: The DTI provides support for two capital grant schemes that promote use of solar panels.
	The Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme launched in 2002 has committed some £16.3 million to 148 large-scale projects and some £4.7 million to 700 small-scale projects.
	The Clear Skies programme provides grants for a number of renewable technologies including solar thermal. The programme has offered some £1.9 million for solar in 3,887 households and £1,821,623 for solar in 138 community projects.

Energy Prices

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of rising energy prices on British manufacturing.

Mike O'Brien: DTI officials and Ministers meet regularly with industry groups and companies to discuss concerns on energy prices.
	Recent increases are in the main a result of market forces and follow a period in which energy prices have generally been at historically low levels in real terms.

Business Link (Northampton)

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of Business Link Services in Northampton.

Nigel Griffiths: I am advised that Business Link Northamptonshire has performed well. During the 2003–04 financial year the Business Link operator had a market penetration rate of 34.5 per cent. compared to the England average of 33.8 per cent. This continued in 2004–05 where Northamptonshire's penetration rate remains higher than the England average at 34 per cent. as compared to 33.9 per cent.
	Customer satisfaction with its services also remains strong. It exceeded the England average in both 2003–04 and 2004–05 of 89 per cent., by achieving a 91 per cent. satisfaction level.

Regulatory Impact

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the level and cost of regulation imposed on business by her Department since 1997.

Patricia Hewitt: DTI has produced 1,080 statutory instruments since 1997. Regulatory impact assessments are produced for SIs, covering impacts on business and others. These are placed in the Libraries of the House.

Power Generation

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure that power generating companies are able to meet future energy demands.

Mike O'Brien: As set out in the Energy White Paper published in 2003, the Government have put in place a market-based framework for the energy industry in which price signals will show when new build is both needed and economically viable. The market is working well to deliver secure energy supplies. We expect it to continue to do so. National Grid are forecasting that the GB plant margin will rise over the next few years, reaching over 30 per cent. in 2007–08 and remaining around that level to the end of the decade.

Electricity Supply (Rural Areas)

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the reliability of electricity supplies in rural areas.

Mike O'Brien: DTI inspectors monitor the performance of rural networks in response to storms and carry out more detailed investigations in extreme circumstances. This work follows on from the publication of a major investigation into the storm of 27 October 2002, which affected 2,000,000 customers. Inspectors have also been working with the electricity industry to explore opportunities to improve storm performance, and a report was published in December last year.
	In addition, Ofgem, the industry regulator provides incentives to companies to improve the reliability of electricity supplies.

Premium Rate Calls

Julia Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she is taking to protect computer users from unsolicited premium rate calls being made from their machines.

Mike O'Brien: The Government have asked the Office of Communications (Ofcom), to carry out a review of premium rate services regulation in order to examine ways of improving consumer protection in the future. The review is expected to report in November.

Motor Sport/Performance Engineering Industries

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the importance of the (a) motor sport and (b) performance engineering industries to the UK's industrial base.

Jacqui Smith: These industries form an important and highly successful part of the UK's industrial base. They employ some 40,000 people and have a sales value of £5 billion, over half of which is export sales.
	The Motorsport Competitiveness Panel, which was co-chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, undertook a detailed assessment of the significance and future potential of the motor sport and performance engineering sectors. Its report was published on 11 July 2003 and is available in the Libraries of the House.
	The panel also made a number of recommendations to secure the future of these industries. We have pledged £16 million in support of these actions, which include widening participation in motor sport and improving the provision of training and qualifications.

Call Centres

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to minimise the movement of call centre jobs to eastern Europe and Asia.

Patricia Hewitt: The Government share the concerns expressed about the impact of offshoring of services on individuals and communities in the UK. Nonetheless DTI's study into the competitiveness of UK call centres shows the UK call centre sector continuing to grow. The Government's focus must remain on enhancing UK competitiveness, and helping improving skills and on help to improve the skills of those who do lose their jobs to get back into work as quickly as possible.

Civil Partnerships

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 25 October, Official Report, column 996W, on civil partnerships, whether the estimated costs given refer only to those aged over 30 years who have been living for 12 years with a close family member; and whether they assume 100 per cent. take-up rate.

Patricia Hewitt: The estimated costs refer only to those over 30 years and who have lived together for 12 years. However, the estimated costs do not assume 100 per cent. take-up.

Correspondence

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs dated 11 May, which was referred to her via the Home Secretary.

Patricia Hewitt: When the Home Office inquired whether the hon. Member's constituent's concerns were the responsibility of my Department, my office responded on the same day explaining that the issues raised were not ones for this Department.
	I understand that the Office of Fair Trading is now preparing a response.

Electricity Generation

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the development of airblown gasification combined cycle technology developed by British Coal for making electricity from coal.

Mike O'Brien: After British Coal ceased trading, the practical development of air blown gasification cycle technology was transferred to an industrial consortium termed the Clean Coal Power Generation Group headed by GEC-Alstom. With some financial support from the European Commission, GEC-Alstom together with Mitsui Babcock and Scottish Power undertook a design study examining the concept of installation of this technology at significant demonstration plant scale in the UK. The report associated with this study was completed but subsequent lack of financial interest has prevented the air blown gasification cycle technology proceeding further in the UK. Components and know how associated with this technology reside with various parties and UK bases who are able to exploit it.

Electricity Generation

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Government will make available to other countries, proposing to construct coal-fired power stations, the airblown gasification combined cycle technology developed by British Coal.

Mike O'Brien: The intellectual property rights of the components comprising the air blown gasification cycle technology reside with industrial parties, not the Government. These parties are at liberty to exploit such components in their own right and in association with other parties whether of UK or overseas origin.

Emissions Trading

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will pursue improvements to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to ensure that combined heat and power projects benefit fully from the scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: I have been asked to reply.
	Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is an important element of the Government's new energy policy, as set out in the Energy White Paper. While developing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the Government undertook analysis to assess whether the proposed methodology would act as a disincentive to good quality CHP capacity. This analysis concluded that, on average, the baseline methodology used for the National Allocation Plan published earlier this year resulted in a baseline emissions level that was no lower for CHP plants than for installations in the power stations sector. It was therefore decided that the allocations to CHP should be calculated on the same basis as for other installations.
	However, following consultation earlier in the year on whether various types of change to installations would be eligible to apply for a free allocation of allowances from the new entrant reserve, the Government have now decided to seek the Commission's agreement to extending eligibility to include, among other things, significant increases in the "good quality" capacity of CHP schemes. New combined heat and power (CHP) installations 1 which come online from 1 January 2004 onwards will also be eligible for allowances from the new entry reserve (NER).
	This is intended to assist CHP, and help industry meet the CHP target of 10GW good quality CHP capacity by 2010 as outlined further in the Energy White Paper published in February 2003.
	1 Only CHP installations that meet the threshold in Schedule 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme 2003 will fall within the scope of the EU ETS.

Emissions Trading

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether universities will be able to benefit from emissions trading; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: I have been asked to reply.
	Emissions trading is potentially an efficient and cost effective way to achieve emissions reductions. Installations covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (including some universities) have the opportunity to benefit from trading by reducing their emissions below the number of allowances allocated by Government and selling these on the EU market.
	Some universities are already benefiting from emissions trading. Through a carbon club, three universities participate in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and have gained experience of trading through the UK market. These universities, along with other Direct Participants, have been granted temporary exclusion from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme until the UK scheme ends in 2006.

Energy Bills

Lembit �pik: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average percentage increase in domestic bills for (a) gas and (b) electricity has been since May 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Data for gas and electricity bills are published on an annual basis, based on a quarterly census of domestic suppliers.
	The change in gas bills for domestic customers between 1997 and 2004, based on provisional 2004 bills are given in the table by payment method. In all cases, prices for 2004 are no higher in cash and real terms than in 1997.
	
		Change in gas bills by payment method between 1997 and 2004
		
			 Payment method Percentage change in real terms between 1997 and 2004 Percentage change in current terms between 1997 and 2004 
		
		
			 Standard credit 15 No change 
			 Direct debit 16 1 
			 Prepayment 16 1 
		
	
	The change in electricity bills for domestic customers between 1997 and 2004, based on provisional 2004 bills are given below by payment method. In all cases, prices for 2004 are lower in cash and real terms than in 1997.
	
		Change in electricity bills by payment method between1997 and 2004
		
			 Payment method Percentage change in real terms between 1997 and 2004 Percentage change in current terms between 1997 and 2004 
		
		
			 Standard credit 25 11 
			 Direct debit 26 13 
			 Prepayment 24 10 
		
	
	Note Data covering bills for 2004 are provisional, although the size of any revisions to these data should be relatively small.

EU Presidency (Greece)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of electric materials used in an explosive atmosphere met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (a) technical and (b) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (i) proposed and (ii) taken by the (A) EU and (B) UK Government as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: During the Greek presidency, there were no meetings of the Committee for the adaptation of technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector relating to electrical equipment intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

EU Presidency (Greece)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the Committee for the adaptation to technical progress of directives on the removal of technical barriers to trade in the sector of protective equipment and systems for use in an explosive atmosphere met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (a) technical and (b) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (i) proposed and (ii) taken by the (A) EU and (B) UK Government as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: It is my understanding this question relates to the Standing Committee set up to assist the European Commission under article 6.3 of the Equipment and Protective Systems for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Directive, (the ATEX Directive) 94/9 EC. There was one meeting of this Committee on 67 February 2003 in Brussels which was attended by two UK expert officials, one from the DTI and one from the Health and Safety Executive. They raised for discussion a number of issues.
	The Committee produces non-binding guidance rather than more formal outputs. This guidance was adapted to include agreed solutions to the issues raised by the UK and others. It forms the basis for advice to industry on these matters.
	The Committee does not address questions relating to financial issues.

EU Presidency (Greece)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the (a) Advisory Committee on standardisation in the field of information technology (Sogits) and (b) the Standing Committee for the harmonisation of national legislation relating to recreational craft met; when and where each meeting took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (i) technical and (ii) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (A) proposed and (B) taken by (1) the EU and (2) the UK Government as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: It is my understanding that the hon. Member is referring to the Standing Committee set up under Article 6 of the Directive 94/25/EC (as amended) on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of member states relating to recreational craft. The Standing Committee met in Brussels on 27 January 2003. Two officials from the Department of Trade and Industry represented the United Kingdom.
	The UK contributed a number of points to the discussion of various terms of guidance for industry and other stakeholders. No financial issues were discussed. The UK also made technical contributions to a further informal meeting on the same day, attended by many of the same officials plus industry representatives.
	The Committee did not make any formal recommendations but its proceedings influenced the work of the Commission and of member states.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from industry following her statement on the planned Export Credits Guarantee Department Trading Fund on 1 July.

Douglas Alexander: Representations about ECGD's future as a Trading Fund were made by industry and its trade bodies prior to my right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry's announcement of 1 July 2004, Official Report, column 22WS. None have been received since. We are committed to consulting on the outcome of the period of operating as a Pilot Trading Fund, which is due to begin next April.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has for how the budget for improving efficiency and effectiveness of the Export Credits Guarantee Department will be spent over the next two years.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave in the Official Report on 11 October, Column 119W. We are awaiting proposals from the Chief Executive of ECGD before taking decisions.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what change she has specified to the current requirement of Export Credits Guarantee Department to obtain Treasury Consents annually, as the Export Credits Guarantee Department (a) moves into Pilot Trading Fund status in April 2005 and (b) becomes a fully capitalised Trading Fund in April 2007.

Douglas Alexander: Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 ('the Act') confer various powers on the Secretary of State acting through the Export Credits Guarantee Department, subject to the consent of the Treasury as required by section 4(2) of the Act. The requirement for ECGD to obtain Treasury consent will therefore continue throughout the Pilot Trading Fund, and during its status as a fully capitalised Trading Fund.

Fallow Field Initiative

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new (a) gas and (b) oil reserves have been identified from the fallow field initiative.

Mike O'Brien: My Department's fallow initiative seeks to put blocks and discoveries in the hands of who can explore and develop them. Activity prompted by the fallow initiative has already resulted in a number of discoveries, 12 of which have resulted in fields with active plans for development. Collectively these are likely to have reserves ranging between 200 and 250 million barrels of oil equivalent. I have provided an overall estimate because specific figures on oil and gas reserves for individual fields and accumulations are commercially sensitive and provided to my Department in confidence by the operating company.

Fair Trade

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make it her policy that, during the UK's presidency of (a) the EU and (b) the G8, all hospitality is sourced from fair trade producers.

Douglas Alexander: The Department of Trade and Industry works closely with other Government departments to promote fair trade, and the Government are committed to supporting fair trade through their own suppliers wherever possible within the boundaries set by the public procurement rules.
	The Government will work to ensure that hospitality offered by their caters within Government departments, when hosting EU Presidency and G8 events, will be sourced from fair trade products. Furthermore, the Government will work to ensure that hospitality provided for UK hosted EU Presidency and G8 events by any outside caterers is sourced from fair trade products where available.

Gas

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much gas (a) was exported from the UK to Europe and (b) was imported from Europe to the UK in each year from 1999 to the latest year for which figures are available.

Mike O'Brien: The amount of gas exported to and imported from Europe for the years 1999 to 2003 are shown in the table.
	
		GWh
		
			  Exports Imports 
		
		
			 1999 84,433 12,862 
			 2000 146,342 26,032 
			 2001 138,330 30,464 
			 2002 150,731 60,493 
			 2003 177,039 86,298

Gas

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her (a) plans and (b) timetable for bringing gas interconnectors on-stream.

Mike O'Brien: Government policy, as set out in the White Paper Our energy future-creating a low carbon economy published in February 2003, is to have a market-based approach to deliver energy supply. There are commercial plans to expand the capacity of the existing interconnector from Zeebrugge planned to be operational by Winter 2005 (first phase) and Winter 2006 (second phase). There are also commercial plans to build a new interconnector between the Netherlands and the UK, aiming to be operational 200607, and the Langeled pipeline is planned to join the Norwegian Continental Shelf to Britain in 200607. The Joint Energy Security of Supply Working Group (JESS) publishes a regular overview of security of supply indicators over the medium term to assist market participants investment decisions and the information collected includes details of forthcoming planned gas interconnector projects.

Gas

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the gas reserves in the UK Continental Shelf.

Mike O'Brien: My Department publishes an annual assessment of the oil and gas reserves on the UK continental shelf (UKCS). The latest assessment is on the web at http://www.og.dti.gov.uk/information/bb_updates/chapters/reserves_index.htm. As at the end of 2003, proven, probable and possible gas reserves were estimated to total 590, 315 and 336 billion cubic metres (bcm) respectively. In addition, there are estimated to be a further 74276 bcm of gas in potential additional reserves, which are not currently technically or commercially producible, and undiscovered resources of between 279 and 1,259 bcm. Gas production from the UKCS to end 2003 was just over 1,800 bcm; production is currently around 100 bcm per annum.

Gas

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has for gas storage over the next decade.

Mike O'Brien: This is a commercial matter, however, I understand there are public plans to build five gas storage facilities at Aldbrough, Byley, Humbly Grove, Welton and Preesall. These facilities are at different stages of the planning and delivery process.
	The Joint Energy Security of Supply Working Group (JESS) publishes a regular overview of security of supply indicators including the status of potential and planned gas storage.

Gas

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the implications for gas storage requirements to meet peak winter gas demand when the UK becomes a net importer of gas.

Mike O'Brien: The market is best placed to assess business opportunities for gas storage based on a commercial evaluation. Storage is only one method of providing the flexibility of gas supply to meet peak winter demand. The Joint Energy Security of Supply Working Group (JESS) publishes a regular overview of security of supply indicators and provides information to the market on the need for peak supply capacity. In addition, DTI writes to local planning authorities, considering gas storage projects, to ensure that they are aware of the national need for additional supply-side flexibility, including storage capacity, as North Sea gas production declines.

Gas

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her plans to ensure the security of supply of gas.

Mike O'Brien: As set out in the White Paper Our energy future-creating a low carbon economy published in February 2003, the Government believe that allowing the free operation of a competitive British market, within an appropriate regulatory framework, is the most efficient way to ensure security of supply of gas. Commercial operators have incentives to ensure a diversity of sources of gas, of supply routes and of entry points so as to reduce the risk of supply interruption through disruption of any one source or supply route. The Government are working towards liberalised and competitive markets both within the EU and beyond, and are using the EU's relations with Russia and other countries to support our energy objectives.
	The Joint Energy Security of Supply Working Group (JESS) publishes a regular overview of security of supply indicators over the medium term to assist market participants investment decisions.

Inward Investment

David Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of investment between European Union countries other than investment by the UK came to the United Kingdom in each year since 2001.

Douglas Alexander: holding answer 18 October 2004
	The UK received 9.7 per cent. (9.1 per cent.) of all foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows between EU-15 member states in 2002 (figures for EU-25 members in brackets). The UK received the fourth largest share behind Luxembourg with 33.6 per cent. (31.5 per cent.), France with 12.7 per cent. (11.9 per cent.) and Germany with 10.1 per cent. (11.9 per cent.).
	This data are only available in terms of financial flow figures rather than in terms of inward investment stocks (by which we measure our PSA targets).
	The latest UNCTAD world investment report shows that in 2003 the UK had the largest inward FDI stocks within the EU from all countries, including those outside the EU, with 20 per cent. of the EU-15 total, followed by Germany (16 per cent.) France (13 per cent.), Netherlands (10 per cent.) and Luxembourg (10 per cent.).

Job Creation (Lancashire)

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs have been created as a result of the Luneside East development; how many jobs have been created to be taken up by residents of communities in need; and what the estimated cost per job created is.

Jacqui Smith: The scheme is expected to create 315 jobs and includes new and improved cycle and pedestrian links to improve access to job opportunities for local communities in need.
	Lancaster City council will also work to maximise the take up of jobs locally through Employment Action Plans targeting these communities.
	The net cost per job is 25,000, which is comparable to other projects of this type.

National Minimum Wage

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many full-time staff have been responsible for the enforcement of minimum wage legislation in each year since 1999.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Inland Revenue carries out enforcement of the national minimum wage.
	
		Details of Revenue staff responsible for the enforcement of minimum wage legislation:
		
			  
		
		
			 19992000 77 
			 200001 93 
			 200102 97 
			 200203 117 
			 200304 115 
			 200405 120 
		
	
	In addition to the figures quoted above, there has been a small Revenue head office team of between four-six staff each year.
	In addition the DTI has a small policy team dealing with national minimum wage issues currently numbering four people.

National Minimum Wage

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many prosecutions there have been for offences in breach of minimum wage legislation in each year since 1999.

Gerry Sutcliffe: To date there have been no prosecution cases for offences in breach of minimum wage legislation. We monitor the effectiveness of enforcement action and will use prosecution should this become appropriate.
	The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 contains a number of provisions empowering compliance officers to take civil action against non-paying employers. The majority (around 90 per cent.) of minimum wage cases are solved, at present, without the need for any formal enforcement action. In tackling the minority of more difficult cases, compliance officers may serve an enforcement notice which requires the employer to start paying the minimum wage and make good any arrears of pay. Where an employer ignores the enforcement notice, the officer may then serve a penalty notice. The penalty notice imposes a financial penalty on the employer of twice the adult rate of the minimum wage for each worker named in the enforcement notice from when it was issued.

National Minimum Wage

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from (a) employers and (b) employees about the operation and enforcement of minimum wage legislation with respect to security guards.

Gerry Sutcliffe: In the last 12 months the Inland Revenue and the Low Pay Commission have received no representations from employers or employees about the operation and enforcement of minimum wage legislation with respect to security guards.
	In the same period the DTI has received one letter from a security guard, but this was principally about the number of hours paid during holidays.

National Minimum Wage

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her plans to improve enforcement of minimum wage legislation.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The hon. Member may know that the Government introduced the National Minimum Wage (Enforcement Notices) Act 2003 last year to ensure that former workers were properly covered by the minimum wage legislation, and that we introduced a package of measures in the Employment Relations Act 2004 to improve enforcement of the minimum wage. We work closely with the Inland Revenue to ensure that enforcement continues to be effective.

National Minimum Wage

Mohammad Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many 16 and 17 year olds are expected to benefit from the national minimum wage in (a) Glasgow, (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom in the next financial year.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information is as follows:
	(a) and (b) it is not possible to comment on the number of beneficiaries in Glasgow and Scotland.
	(c) The DTI estimates that over 25,000 16 to 17-year-old workers will benefit from the national minimum wage rage of 3.00 per hour in October 2004. This estimate was made in the DTI March 2004 National Minimum Wage Regulatory Impact Assessment.

Nuclear Plants (IT Systems)

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information she has received from the International Atomic Energy Agency in respect of its evaluation of the adequacy of computer systems installed at nuclear plants in support of safety and security requirements.

Mike O'Brien: The International Atomic Energy Agency has not evaluated the adequacy of computer systems installed at nuclear plants in support of safety or security within the UK and has no remit to do so.

Sellafield

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the future of the reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 1 November 2004
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 October 2004, Official Report, column 1859W to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker).

Shareholder Registers (Animal Rights Activists)

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her assessment is of the security implications of the legal requirement for companies targeted by animal rights activists to provide copies of their shareholder registers; and what plans she has to restrict the right of access to companies' share registers in such cases.

Patricia Hewitt: The UK has one of the strictest regulatory regimes in the world to control the use of animals for medical research and the Government have expressed their determination to stop the illegal and sometimes violent conduct of a small group of extremists who are attempting to intimidate individuals and companies going about their lawful business. I am concerned that these extremists can and do misuse information that is in the public domain to direct their attacks.
	The Companies Act requires every company to provide a copy of its Register of Members to those who ask and to list the company's directors. It does not, however, require the company's members or shareholders to provide their home addresses. Directors' home addresses are currently held on the public record but those who are under a serious risk of violence or intimidation can apply for a confidentiality order to remove these addresses from public inspection. Our intention in the Companies Bill will be to implement the recommendation of the company law review that directors should only need to provide a service address for the public record, with home addresses being held on a register to which access is restricted.

Software Patents

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the financial contribution of the licensing of software patents to the UK economy in each year from 1974 to 2003.

Patricia Hewitt: Licensing is in essence a private business activity. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

A-Level Results

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the average A-level points score for (a) school sixth forms, (b) sixth form colleges and (c) general further education colleges in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The average GCE/VCE A/AS point score per candidate aged 16 to 18 in 2002 to 2004 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 (provisional) 
		
		
			 All schools 280.9 282.8 286.1 
			 Sixth form colleges 263.1 273.8 277.0 
			 Other FE sector colleges 166.5 169.0 181.2 
			 All schools and FE sector colleges 254.7 258.9 265.6

A-Level Results

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the average A-level points score per pupil for 11 to 18 years schools with sixth forms containing (a) 50 or fewer, (b) 51 to 100, (c) 101 to 150, (d) 151 to 200, (e) 201 to 250 and (f) more than 250 pupils in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The average GCE/VCE A/AS point score per candidate aged 16 to 18 in school sixth forms in 2002 to 2004 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Number of students in sixth form 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 (provisional) 
		
		
			 Fewer than 50 227.1 224.1 242.6 
			 51 to 100 239.3 244.4 250.0 
			 101 to 150 258.6 253.1 259.2 
			 151 to 200 278.4 278.3 278.3 
			 201 to 250 291.0 293.1 292.0 
			 More than 250 296.4 299.8 303.3 
			 Total 280.9 282.8 286.1

Area Cost Adjustment

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local education authorities receive area cost adjustment in 200405.

David Miliband: The education authorities in the following list received area cost adjustment in their Education Formula Spending Share for 200405.
	LEAs Receiving Area Cost Adjustment in EFSS for 200405.
	Barking and Dagenham
	Barnet
	Bath and north east Somerset
	Bedfordshire
	Bexley
	Birmingham
	Bolton
	Bracknell Forest
	Bradford
	Brent
	Brighton and Hove
	Bromley
	Buckinghamshire
	Bury
	Calderdale
	Cambridgeshire
	Camden
	Cheshire
	City of Bristol
	City of London
	City of Peterborough
	Coventry
	Croydon
	Dudley
	Ealing
	East Sussex
	Enfield
	Essex
	Gloucestershire
	Greenwich
	Hackney
	Halton
	Hammersmith and Fulham
	Hampshire
	Haringey
	Harrow
	Havering
	Hertfordshire
	Hillingdon
	Hounslow
	Isle of Wight
	Isles of Scilly
	Islington
	Kensington and Chelsea
	Kent
	Kingston upon Thames
	Kirklees
	Knowsley
	Lambeth
	Leeds
	Lewisham
	Liverpool
	Luton
	Manchester
	Medway
	Merton
	Milton Keynes
	Newham
	North Somerset
	Northamptonshire
	Oldham
	Oxfordshire
	Portsmouth
	Reading
	Redbridge
	Richmond upon Thames
	Rochdale
	Salford
	Sandwell
	Sefton
	Slough
	Solihull
	South Gloucestershire
	Southampton
	Southend
	Southwark
	St. Helens
	Stockport
	Surrey
	Sutton
	Swindon
	Tameside
	Thurrock
	Tower Hamlets
	Trafford
	Wakefield
	Walsall
	Waltham Forest
	Wandsworth
	Warrington
	Warwickshire
	West Berkshire
	West Sussex
	Westminster
	Wigan
	Wiltshire
	Windsor and Maidenhead
	Wirral
	Wokingham
	Wolverhampton

Children in Care

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are in public care in the West Midlands.

Margaret Hodge: At 31 March 2003, 7,120 children were looked after by local authorities in the West Midlands. This figure excludes children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements.

Foundation Schools

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether a school that a local education authority proposes to close can apply to become a foundation school.

David Miliband: The governing body of a school which the LEA proposes to close, may seek to change its category to foundation but it must follow the proper statutory process. Publishing proposals for a change of category will not prevent or delay the consideration of any proposals already published for closure.
	In deciding both proposals, a School Organisation Committee (SOC) or schools adjudicator must have regard to the Secretary of State's guidance. The guidance makes it clear that the SOC or adjudicator need not delay their consideration of the first proposals in such cases. They may consider the proposed closure first and then take account of that decision when considering the change of category proposals.
	Under the new fast track arrangements we are proposing for community and voluntary controlled secondary schools to change category to foundation, the governing body would decide change of category proposals, LEAs will retain the right to publish proposals to close foundation schools and the SOC will continue to decide these.

Learning and Skills Council

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with the Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council about its support for (a) The Prince's Trust and (b) the Connexions programmes; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The Secretary of State has had no discussions, but is aware that the Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council (LSC) indirectly supports the Prince's Trust, which delivers Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes. E2E is an important part of the work to re-engage young people in learning.
	Gloucestershire LSC works in partnership with the Connexions Service to ensure that quality advice and guidance is available to enable young people to benefit from appropriate learning opportunities.

Learning and Skills Council

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the funding he is providing to the Learning and Skills Council in this financial year.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The budget allocated to the Learning and Skills Council for the 200405 financial year was set out in the Grant Letter to the LSC on 4 December 2003. The budget figure in the letter is 8,674 million. This amount represents a record level of investment in the learning and skills sector.

Parliamentary Questions

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will reply to the question tabled by the hon. Member for Hertsmere on 18 October 2004, ref 192930, on benchmarks for university admissions.

Stephen Twigg: A reply was issued to the hon. Member on 3 November 2004, Official Report, columns 29091W.

Post-16 Education

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding streams are available to support students in post-16 non-university based education.

Ivan Lewis: The Government are committed to encouraging more students to continue in education and training, and to raise attainment levels. Young People from lower income households who are aged 16 at the start of the 2004/05 academic year can apply to receive the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). We are phasing in the scheme nationally from September 2004 to successive 16 year old year groups. By 2006 all young people aged 16 to 19 who meet the eligibility requirements will be able to receive EMA.
	Learner Support Funds (LSFs) are available for students aged 16 and over to help with costs associated with further education, including books and equipment, transport, childcare support funds and residential bursaries. LSF continues to be an effective safety net for disadvantaged students from lower income households wishing to remain in education.
	Young people in unwaged work-based learning, including Entry to Employment, are entitled to at least 40 a week Minimum Training Allowance paid by the learning provider through the LSC, local LSCs can increase this allowance to meet local needs and can also provide discretionary funding to help with transport, equipment or similar costs. The intention is that from 2006 this arrangement will be replaced by the extension of EMA principles to this group of young people.
	Announced as part of the Government's Skills Strategy, the new Adult Learning Grant offers an allowance of up to 30 per week to adults on lower incomes studying full-time for a first full level 2 qualification (equivalent to 5 GCSEs or a National Vocational Qualification at level 2) and young adults (aged 19+) on lower incomes studying full-time for a first full level 3 qualification (equivalent to two A levels or a National Vocational Qualification at level 3).
	Career Development Loans, which are operated by the Department and three high street banks, are designed to help individuals pay for vocational education and training. Loans of between 300 and 8,000 are available to pay for all course-related costs on courses for up to two years. The loan can also cover living expenses if the course is full time. The Department pays the interest on the loan while the student is training and repayment starts only after the course has been completed.

Press Officers

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many press officers are employed in his Department; and how many were employed in each year since 199697.

Charles Clarke: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The information requested is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of press officers 
		
		
			 1996/97 19 
			 1997/98 20.5 
			 1998/99 29.5 
			 1999/00 28 
			 2000/01 28 
			 2001/02 28 
			 2002/03 23.4 
			 2003/04 18.5 
			 2004/05 17

Schools (Bury)

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants were employed in schools in Bury in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The following table gives the number of teaching assistants employed in maintained schools in Bury of January in each year. The latest information available is for 2004.
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1995 210 
			 1996 250 
			 1997 270 
			 1998 260 
			 1999 280 
			 2000 330 
			 2001 360 
			 2002 460 
			 2003 480 
			 2004 540 
		
	
	Source:
	Annual School Census
	The information requested from 1997 has also been published in table 20 of the Statistical First Release 34/2004 on 23 September 2004. The SFR can be accessed from the following URL:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000493/index.shtml

Sex Education

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money was granted by each local education authority in the Greater London area to be spent on sex education in (a) 1997 and (b) 200304.

David Miliband: Information about individual local education authority expenditure on sex education is not collected by the Department.
	Educating young people about sexual health and safer sex are key elements of the Government's sexual health strategy. The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy has a multi-faceted approach, which includes helping young people resist pressure to have early sex, improving sex and relationship education and access to effective contraception and sexual health services. All maintained secondary schools have a statutory requirement to teach sex and relationship education.

DEFENCE

Electoral Registration

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British service personnel are registered as service voters on the armed forces personnel registration scheme; and how many were registered in 2000.

Ivor Caplin: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The Representation of the People Act 2000 gave Service personnel the option of either registering to vote at their private or other qualifying address, or to register by means of a Service declaration. Both are administered by local authority Electoral Registration Officers and the Services no longer maintain an Armed Forces Register of Electors. The number choosing to register by means of the Service declaration is not held by the Ministry of Defence.

Electoral Registration

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the armed forces personnel registration scheme moved to annual re-registration in 2000; and what assessment was made of the implications of the change for the number of servicemen registered to vote.

Ivor Caplin: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The move to annual re-registration brought the arrangements for armed forces personnel in line with those for other voters. The change was considered likely to encourage Service personnel to use their vote, and to register with the local authority Electoral Registration Officer for their up-to-date address.

Missile Defence

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written statement of 12 October 2004, Official Report, columns 910WS, on missile defence, when negotiations on the ballistic missile defence agreement began; and when agreement on the final text was reached.

Geoff Hoon: Negotiations for a new agreement to replace the 1985 Strategic Defence Initiative Memorandum of Understanding began in early 2003. A Framework Agreement, setting out general principles for co-operation on missile defence, was signed on 12 June 2003. Negotiations were conducted in parallel on two Annexes to this Agreement dealing with the upgrade of the Early Warning Radar at RAF Fylingdales, and with co-operation in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation of ballistic missile defence capabilities and systems. These were signed on 18 December 2003 and 12 October 2004 respectively.

Travel Costs

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the travel costs were of civil servants in (a) his Department and (b) its related agencies in each year since 1997.

Ivor Caplin: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost. I can confirm that all civilian travel is conducted in compliance with Civil Service Management Code, and in the most cost-effective manner.

Windows 2000 Combat Management System

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what systems have been put in place to cope with a failure in the planned Windows 2000 operating system in the Type 45 Destroyers;
	(2)  whether there has been an external review of the Windows 2000 Combat Management System Type 45 Destroyer Project;
	(3)  what the proposed cost was of implementing Unix as the operating system for the Combat Management System in the Type 45 Destroyers;
	(4)  what the cost is of implementing Windows 2000 as the operating system for the Combat Management System in the Type 45 Destroyers;
	(5)  what steps he has taken to ensure that the Windows 2000 Combat Management System in the new Type 45 Destroyers is reliable.

Adam Ingram: The Type 45 prime contractor, BAE Systems, and their sub-contractor, are responsible for selecting an operating system that meets the requirements placed on them by the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA). Industry's decision to use Windows 2000 was in any case the subject of a review conducted by the Ministry of Defence which included specialist representatives from QinetiQ and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). The review concluded that the choice of Windows 2000 represented the lowest risk choice of operating system. In particular, the review concluded that any residual risks associated with reliability were well understood by the contractor and that the normal process of regression and integration testing would quantify and reduce these risks before Type 45 is accepted into service.
	The system design has built-in redundancy, with automatic, and transparent, switch-over to a back-up system if the primary system has a problem. This would provide continuity of operation and ensure that no data were lost. The system design also ensures that comprehensive hardware mechanisms will be in place to avoid any other safety or technical issues.
	The cost of implementing an operating system for the Combat Management System in the Type 45 is a matter for the prime contractor, BAE Systems, and their sub-contractor. The Department does not have, or require, visibility of costs at that level of detail.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Analogue Switch-off

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate her Department has made of the number of television aerials that will need to be upgraded to allow analogue switch-off to proceed.

Estelle Morris: A small number of viewers are likely to be using a roof-top aerial which is in poor condition and delivering substandard analogue signals. They may have to replace their aerial in order to continue receiving the public service channels after digital switchover. However, we do not have a reliable figure of the number of households who may be affected in this way.

British Grand Prix

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the British Grand Prix; and whether she expects public money to be made available to secure the future of the British Grand Prix.

Richard Caborn: We desire and support a British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but the current commercial negotiations between the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) and Formula One Management (FOM), to reach an agreement to secure the British Grand Prix on the 2005 Formula One Calendar, are a matter for them. However, where appropriate, Derek Mapp, Chair of the East Midlands Development Agency and I have done everything we can to help bring the parties together to broker a suitable outcome. There is no prospect of the Government entering into the current commercial negotiations as a direct financial participant.

Correspondence

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Woking, dated 14 October, concerning Skanska UK Plc.

Estelle Morris: The letter was received in the Department on the 18 October and I wrote to the hon. Member on 3 November.
	We aim to reply to all departmental correspondence within 18 working days.

Departmental Policy (South Dorset)

Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to the South Dorset constituency, the effects of changes to departmental policy since 1997 on the South Dorset constituency.

Richard Caborn: Since 1997 the Government have introduced a range of initiatives and increased the funding available to develop the cultural, sports and tourism sectors and improve access to cultural and sporting opportunities across the country. There is evidence that these policies are benefiting the South Dorset constituency.
	A number of arts organisations in Dorset, which are active in the South Dorset constituency, are receiving significant increases in their public funding. For example, Artsreach and Dorset Dance Forum will each receive over 50,000 from Arts Council England in 200506, representing increases of 73 per cent. and 55 per cent. respectively compared with 200203. Ten feature films and television programmes have been filmed in and around South Dorset in the past two years and a number of film projects have received Lottery funding, including the Purbeck Film Festival. Museums in Dorset are receiving support from the South West Museums, Libraries and Archives Council under the Government's Renaissance in the Regions initiative. This support is aimed at helping smaller museums develop their documentation and funding a second museum development officer post for the county. The Tank Museum has received over 350,000 since 1999 under the Government's Designation Scheme to recognise outstanding collections in non-national museums.
	Tourism in Dorset has increased with the assistance of Government-funded marketing activity. The latest available data are for 2002, when expenditure by staying tourists in Dorset rose to 768 million from 664 million in 2001. In April 2003, the Government established VisitBritain with a new domestic marketing remit for England, and we gave strategic responsibility for tourism development to the Regional Development Agencies. Tourism in South Dorset benefits from these changes, as does the rest of England, and will benefit further if London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games is successful as Weymouth and Portland have been chosen to host the sailing events.
	Information from the Lottery distributors indicates that since 1997 South Dorset has benefited from over 300 awards totalling over 10 million. Of these 40 awards worth 2.3 million were made by the New Opportunities Fund which was established by the Government in 1999.

Departmental Recruitment

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many full-time equivalent staff her Department has employed in the (a) corporate services, (b) tourism, libraries and communities, (c) creative industries, broadcasting, gambling and the Lottery, (d) arts and culture, (e) sport, (f) strategy and communications and (g) legal advisors' directorate in each year from 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The Department has undergone a number of reorganisations since 1997. We are currently organised into three Directorates General and one Directorate with full-time equivalent staff as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Economic Impact 135 
			 Children, Young People and Communities 207.5 
			 Corporate Services and Modernisation 141.9 
			 Strategic Communications 26 
		
	
	DCMS contracts out its legal service to the Treasury Solicitor's Department, who employ staff on our behalf. Information for previous structures for earlier years could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Export Bodies

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees the (a) Export Licensing Unit and (b) Advisory Council on the Export of Works of Art had in each year from 1997; what the cost to public funds of each body was in each year (i) in total, (ii) for staffing costs, (iii) for other administrative costs and (iv) for other costs; and if she will make a statement.

Estelle Morris: Details of the staffing levels of DCMS are not recorded in the kind of detail that would be required in order to provide information about the precise staffing levels of the Export Licensing Unit on a year by year basis since 1997. Accordingly, details of precise costs cannot be calculated. The current staffing of the Unit consists of approximately 20 per cent. of a Grade B, two Grade Cs and two Grade Ds. This has involved a slight increase since 1997 as staff numbers have been adjusted according to the number of licence applications needing to be processed.
	The Advisory Council on the Export of Works of Art provides advice to both the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and DCMS directly from time to time. The Council therefore involves no specific costs to DCMS as it is serviced as a small part of the work of the Reviewing Committee's secretariat.

Football Association

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to review the Football Association; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: While all sports national governing bodies are independent from Government, the Government's aim is for them to be fit for purpose. The FA is no exception. The FA has been discussing a review of the organisation, including its structure and governance, since the spring of 2004. The Board and Council are committed to a review headed by an independent person, who will want to take a view on when they will be able to report. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the FA in August 2004, and I have been in regular contact with the FA during this time.

Gambling

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the competition implications under EU rules of placing a cap or ceiling on the number of regional casinos.

Richard Caborn: Any statutory limitation on the number of regional casinos would potentially raise issues of compliance with EU law which would need due consideration.

Lottery Terminals

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has held with Camelot on the purchase and supply of National Lottery terminals to (a) newsagents and (b) shops in the UK.

Estelle Morris: Issues concerning National Lottery terminals are a matter for the National Lottery operator acting under its licence from the National Lottery Commission. I and my officials have regular meetings with both Camelot and the National Lottery Commission which discuss all areas of the National Lottery; but these have not involved any detailed discussion of terminal supply matters.

Olympic Athletes (Ireland)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Olympic athletes who have received public funding from the UK have competed for the Republic of Ireland.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 1 November 2004
	There were four competitors from Northern Ireland at Sydney 2000 and seven at Athens 2004 who received lottery funding from the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and who competed for the Republic of Ireland.

Temporary Staff

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data are kept centrally.

Richard Caborn: The Department employs temporary agency staff on the basis of a booking which can last from as little as one day to many months. The number of individual bookings in each of the last five years is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 200304 106 
			 200203 86 
			 200102 92 
			 200001 143 
			 19992000 (4)47 
		
	
	(4) Second half year figure onlyfirst half year figure no longer available.
	However, this does not represent the number of temporary agency staff working in the Department at any one time; or the average annual person years worked. There are 17 temporary agency staff currently working in the Department.

Tourism

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding her Department plans to contribute for (a) marketing, (b) e-tourism, (c) improving the quality of tourism products and (d) skills and training towards achieving the 100 billion target value for tourism by 2010.

Richard Caborn: This year we have made 48.4 million available to VisitBritain for marketing, e-tourism and quality. My Department expects to announce the new funding allocations for VisitBritain over the coming weeks. Funding for the improvement of skills and training in the tourism industry is provided by the Department for Education and Skills. This includes up to 4 million over three years for the Sector Skills Council/People 1st.

Tourism

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what ratio of funding between the Government and the private sector she expects in meeting the 100 billion target value for tourism by 2010.

Richard Caborn: The Department has made 48.4 million of public investment available to VisitBritain this year, alongside our investment in the museums, galleries, heritage sites, arts and sports events and other attractions that encourage tourists to spend their holidays here. Other Government Departments, the Devolved Administrations, Regional Development Agencies and local authorities also make significant public investment which directly and indirectly benefits tourism. However, inbound and domestic tourism is worth almost 74 billion to the UK economy and clearly the vast majority of investment will be made by private firms, investing in their products and marketing their services to the public.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much expenditure his Department has incurred in each year since 2002 on employing external consultants to deal with the press and public relations of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: From March 2002, my Department's expenditure with press and public relations consultants was as follows:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 200203 12,000.00 
			 200304 37,362.00 
			 2004 to date 28,436.00

Departmental IT

Brian White: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level.

Christopher Leslie: My Department's procurement of software solutions follows the 'level playing field' Government Open Source Software (OSS) Policy. The Government consider OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements and that contracts should be awarded on a value for money, case by case basis. The OSS policy can be viewed at www.govtalk.gov.uk
	My Department works with its suppliers so that OSS is used, where appropriate, in the developments currently under way or under consideration. For example, my Department makes use of OSS in the hosting of its main websites.
	Where OSS is used it is with a mixture of bespoke and proprietary software in a variety of environments, which makes it impossible meaningfully to estimate the percentages attributable to each type of software.

Departmental Publications (Access)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what proportion of publications issued by his Department are available in (a) Braille, (b) autoprint, (c) large print and (d) easy read format.

David Lammy: It is my Department policy to make printed publications available in alternative formats on request.
	In cases where a significant demand for such formats is anticipated, alternative formats are produced at the same time as the main publication. For example, the application form for lay magistrates is available in both large print and Braille. Easy to read versions have been produced of two of my Department's booklets: Making Decisions: Helping people who have difficulty deciding for themselves and the Guide to the Human Rights Act.
	My Department is obliged by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to make online publications accessible and to provide alternative user-friendly formats on request. It adheres to guidelines outlined by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Online publications are therefore accessible via screen readers and Braille displays, thus allowing users to adjust font sizes and change fore and background colour schemes.
	10 per cent. of my Department's online content is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). Alternative user-friendly file formats are available on request.
	Large print versions of Court Service leaflets are available on the Court Service website. The Court Service makes its printed publications available in alternative formats on request.
	All Public Guardianship Office customer booklets are available in large print on the PGO website or in hardcopy. Their booklets are made available in easy-read format and in Braille on request.

Press Officers

Julian Lewis: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many press officers the Department and its predecessors have employed in each of the past five years.

David Lammy: The number of press officers and support staff employed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs headquarters and the Court Service and its predecessor are as follows:
	
		
			  Press officers Support staff 
		
		
			 2004 (5)16 6 
			 2003 (5)13 5 
			 2002 10 5 
			 2001 6 5 
			 2000 4 5 
		
	
	(5) This includes the head of news who was appointed in September 2003.
	These figures do not include the director and deputy of communications who do speak to the media but on a far more infrequent basis than press officers.

Special Advisers

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many unpaid special advisers the Department has; what their names are; and which Government (a) bodies, (b) committees and (c) strategy groups each unpaid adviser (i) belongs to, (ii) advises and (iii) works alongside.

David Lammy: For information relating to numbers and names of unpaid advisers I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 July 2004, Official Report, columns 46670W.
	Special advisers, whether paid or unpaid, are employed under the terms and conditions set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers. Unpaid advisers are appointed in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 51 of the Ministerial Code.

Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what measures his Department (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake to comply with the Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order 2003.

Christopher Leslie: My Department is committed to working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on Sustainable Development. We continue to progress action and respond positively to targets published by DEFRA against the strands of the Framework for Sustainable Development in the Government Estate. Good progress has been made on energy targets; we already source more than 10 per cent. of electricity from renewable sources and our programme of energy works has achieved significant reductions in consumption and emissions. Use of Combined Heat and Power schemes forms part of our overall strategy; we already participate in a scheme in Sheffield and are currently considering schemes proposed for Nottingham and Birmingham. Subject to financial viability, we will be considering other opportunities for CHP schemes as they arise.

CABINET OFFICE

Performance and Innovation Unit

Bob Spink: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what new projects are (a) planned and (b) under consideration for the Performance and Innovation Unit.

Alan Milburn: The Performance and Innovation Unit no longer exists. In June 2002 it merged with the Forward Strategy Unit and the Policy Studies Directorate of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies to create the Strategy Unit. New Strategy Unit projects are announced on the Unit's website as Ministers approve them unless they are intended to give confidential advice to ministers.

Departmental Expenditure

David Cameron: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Office has spent on (a) mobile telephone costs, (b) hospitality and (c) taxi costs in (i) 199697 and (ii) the last year for which figures are available.

Ruth Kelly: holding answer 19 July 2004
	Financial information prior to the 199798 financial year was recorded on a previous accounting system and cannot be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.
	Expenditure on mobile telephone is not separately identifiable on the Department's accounting system and therefore the information requested cannot be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.
	The department spent 484,000 on entertainment expenses in 200304. This amount includes refreshments provided at meetings, working lunches and other forms of hospitality.
	All expenditure on official entertainment and hospitality is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles set out in Government Accounting. The giving and receiving of hospitality is conducted fully in accordance with the guidance set out in the Ministerial Code and Civil Service Code.
	For information on taxi costs I refer the hon. Member to the response given to the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) on 13 November 2003, Official Report, column 397W.
	Owing to changes in the Department's accounting system expenditure on taxis since 2002 is not separately identifiable and the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

Mobile Phones

Mark Prisk: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many mobile phones were used by (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in her Department in each year since 1997; how many were (i) lost and (ii) stolen; and what their cost was.

Ruth Kelly: Information relating to mobile telephones and their cost is not held centrally and is not separately identifiable on the Department's accounting system. It cannot therefore be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.

HEALTH

Drug Rehabilitation Places

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential drug rehabilitation places there are, broken down by (a) police authority and (b) government office region.

Melanie Johnson: We do not have information on the number of residential drug rehabilitation places broken down by police authority.
	Residential drug treatment services are registered voluntarily in the residential drug treatment services directory. Based on those who have an entry in the directory, the numbers of residential drug rehabilitation places within each Government region are shown in the table.
	
		
			 Region Number of places 
		
		
			 East Midlands 80 
			 Eastern 150 
			 London 437 
			 North East 110 
			 North West 292 
			 South East 538 
			 South West 593 
			 West Midlands 57 
			 Northern and Yorkshire 125 
		
	
	Source:
	National Treatment Agency residential directory.
	It should be noted that drug action teams commonly commission residential drug rehabilitation places outside their own locality or region.

School Fruit Scheme

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health from which holding locations fruit is supplied to schools under the National School Fruit Scheme; and by what methods it is transported.

Melanie Johnson: There are 17 distributors to the school fruit and vegetable scheme operating out of 23 distribution centres around the country. These are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Distributor Location of distribution centres 
		
		
			 Pioneer Foods Cumbria 
			 NCB Liverpool 
			 CATS Preston 
			 Wilson Catering Manchester 
			 G W Price North Yorkshire 
			 Country Fresh South Yorkshire 
			 F W Gedney Norfolk/Suffolk 
			 Arthur Brett West Midlands 
			 Minor Weir and Willis East Midlands, London, South East 
			 Peachey's Essex 
			 Croydon Fruiterers London 
			 H B Hawkes London 
			 Prescott Thomas London 
			 A G Axton Berkshire 
			 West Country Foods Cornwall 
			 George Cossey Somerset 
			 Redbridge Hereford, Stoke-on-Trent, Gateshead, Southampton, Bristol 
		
	
	The distributors primarily use diesel powered long wheelbase transit-type vans. Distributors are located strategically around the country to attempt to minimise the journey time to schools.

School Fruit Scheme

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many schools are participating in the National School Fruit Scheme; and how many deliveries are made per week to these schools.

Melanie Johnson: As at 27 October 2004, 13,354 schools were participating nationally in the school fruit and vegetable scheme. The total number of eligible schools is 16,796.
	The national roll-out of the school fruit and vegetable scheme is currently in progress. This means that the number of participating schools is expected to increase over the following month, as schools in the South West, South East, East of England and Yorkshire and Humber regions join the scheme. By the end of the year, we anticipate that roughly 16,500 schools will be participating in the scheme.
	The number of deliveries varies from school to school. Each school receives at least five deliveries over a two week cycle, but more commonly each school will receive three deliveries per week.

Agency Nurses

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the use of agency nurses within NHS hospitals within the Greater London area.

Stephen Ladyman: Information on the number of agency nurses within national health service hospitals within the Greater London area is not available centrally.
	The NHS does not separately record the cost of employing agency staff. Data are collected on the total expenditure by NHS bodies on nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff who are not directly employed by NHS bodies. Data for 200304 are provisional, but shows, within the five London strategic health authority areas, a decrease in expenditure from 220,780,586 in 200203 to 186,428,833 in 200304.
	NHS Professionals and the London agency project, a procurement process for the NHS in London to arrange the supply of temporary nursing, midwifery, health visitor and healthcare assistant staff, are working to reduce agency costs in London.

Alcohol-related Deaths

Bill Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how his Department records and collates alcohol-related deaths that fall outside the scope of the World Health Organisation ICD 10 codings for death directly attributable to alcohol;
	(2)  how many alcohol-related deaths were recorded in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Melanie Johnson: Numbers of deaths in England and Wales, regarded as being directly alcohol-related according to a definition used by the Office for National Statistics based on the International Classification of Diseases, are shown in the table. This presents the number of deaths certified as due to alcohol abuse, dependence and poisoning, and diseases directly related to alcohol use from 1999 to 2003, the latest year for which figures are currently available. Information on the part that alcohol may have played in deaths from other causes, including other accidents, suicides and violence, is not available from death certificates.
	A number of health and lifestyle factors can also contribute to diseases such as cancer, stroke and coronary heart disease, and it can be difficult to isolate alcohol consumption as the most important of these factors.
	In the Strategy Unit Alcohol Harm Reduction Project: Interim Analytical Report 1 it was estimated that in 2000 there were between 15,000 and 22,000 alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales.
	1 Prime Minister's Strategy Unit Alcohol Harm Reduction Project. Interim Analytical Report, 2003, p44, available at www.number10.gov.uk/files/pdf/SU interim report2.pdf.
	
		Alcohol-related deaths registered in each calendar year, England and Wales, 1999 to 2003
		
			  Number of deaths 
		
		
			 1999 5,473 
			 2000 5,543 
			 2001 6,020 
			 2002 6,100 
			 2003 6,511 
		
	
	Notes:
	For the years 19992000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The codes used by the Office for National Statistics to define alcohol-related deaths are listed as follows:
	291: Alcoholic psychoses
	303: Alcohol dependence syndrome
	305.0: Non-dependent abuse of alcohol
	425.5: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
	571: Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
	E860: Accidental poisoning by alcohol
	For the years 20012003 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were used:
	F10: Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
	142.6: Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
	K70: Alcoholic liver disease
	K73: Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified
	K74: Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver
	X45: Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol
	The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in:
	Baker A and Rooney C (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp 514.

St. George's Hospital, Tooting

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients are waiting for (a) hearing aids and (b) other audiology treatment at St. George's Hospital, Tooting.

Stephen Ladyman: There are no patients waiting at St. George's Healthcare National Health Service Trust for the specialty audiological medicine.
	Information is collected at specialty level but not specifically on waits for hearing aids or other specific treatments within this specialty.

St. George's Hospital, Tooting

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have been treated with IVF treatment at St. George's hospital, Tooting in each of the last three years.

Stephen Ladyman: Figures for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment at St. George's hospital, Tooting are shown in the table.
	
		
			  Number of patients 
		
		
			 200102 313 
			 200203 148 
		
	
	Source:
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
	The assisted conception service at the St. George's Healthcare National Health Service Trust closed in 2002 and the last recorded IVF treatment at the hospital was in September 2002.

B144 Blood Testing Strips

Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the withdrawal of B144 blood testing strips from NHS prescription supply.

Rosie Winterton: Roche Diagnostics say that they have manufactured the BM-Test 144 blood testing strip for a number of years. However, as blood glucose monitoring technology has developed over the years, with faster test times and less blood required, the demand for this product has steadily declined among people with diabetes. It is within this context that Roche Diagnostics has withdrawn the product from the market.

B144 Blood Testing Strips

Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of providing blood-testing meters to those qualifying for financial assistance with NHS prescriptions in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: We have made no such estimate. Blood glucose testing meters are available to patients on loan from the national health service.

Cancelled Operations

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled at the last minute in the NHS in each year since 1980.

John Hutton: The information requested is shown in the tables. The specific definition used is operations cancelled on or after the day of admission. The information was first collected in 1994 and the table shows the figures for each quarter since then.
	
		Operations cancelled on or after the day of admission for non clinical reasons
		
			  Number of cancelled operations 
			  Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 
		
		
			 199495 11,603 10,186 11,874 14,466 
			 199596 11,860 11,457 14,514 16,652 
			 199697 11,595 11,055 13,023 16,374 
			 199798 12,019 11,550 12,476 14,460 
			 199899 12,384 11,470 14,611 17,685 
			 19992000 12,313 12,017 15,769 20,143 
			 200001 17,033 16,965 18,844 24,976 
			 200102 20,833 20,901 20,036 19,973 
			 200203 14,808 14,826 17,706 19,914 
			 200304 14,092 14,364 17,782 20,065 
			 200405 14,677
		
	
	
		Cancelled operations as a percentage of elective activity
		
			  Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 
		
		
			 199495 1.1 0.9 1 1.2 
			 199596 1 1 1.2 1.3 
			 199697 1 0.9 1.1 1.4 
			 199798 1 1 1 1.2 
			 199899 1 0.9 1.1 1.3 
			 19992000 0.9 0.9 1.2 1.5 
			 200001 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.8 
			 200102 1.1 1.6 1.5 1.5 
			 200203 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.4 
			 200304 1.1 1 1.3 1.4 
			 200405 1.1

Data Protection

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place (a) to check the criminal records of civil servants in his Department and agencies responsible to his Department who have access to computer databases containing confidential information on the public and (b) to ensure that there can be no improper use of computer databases containing confidential information on the public; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: All departmental staff are subject to, at least, the basic security check, which includes criminal records. There is clear personnel guidance requiring staff to inform their line manager and human resources (HR) team if civil action is being taken against them or if they are arrested on any charge or served with a summons on a criminal charge. Staff who are subsequently convicted must also report this to their line manager and HR team.
	Staff are also advised that a prosecution action taken against them, whether successful or not, may affect their employment with the Department.
	The departmental security unit (DHSU) provides guidance to all staff on information technology (IT) and general security. This includes the need to protect all official information and the IT Misuse Policy. Security policy, principles and guidance are based upon the Manual of Protective Security, published by Cabinet Office.
	Staff are reminded that they are all responsible for security and that the compromise of information, either deliberately or through carelessness, is treated very seriously and may result in disciplinary action.
	Physical and IT controls prevent staff having unauthorised access to confidential information. DHSU take regular action to raise staff awareness of security issues, including information security.

Departmental Administration Costs

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has budgeted for departmental administration costs in (a) 200405, (b) 200506, (c) 200708, (d) 200809 and (e) 200910.

Rosie Winterton: The Department's provisional net administration budgets from 200405 are shown in the table.
	
		 million
		
			  Amount 
		
		
			 200405 278 
			 200506 245 
			 200607 238 
			 200708 225 
		
	
	These figures will be finalised in the light of the Department's restructuring programme and the review of arm's length bodies.
	Figures for 200809 and 200910 have not yet been agreed.

E111 Forms

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures the Government have taken to alert British citizens to the 31 December deadline after which E111 forms issued before August will be invalid; how much has been spent on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising, (d) leaflets and (e) other campaigns; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: The Department is carrying out a number of measures to publicise the arrangements for the new E111. The Department is working closely with a number of other Government Departments and agencies including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Passport Agency, using channels of communication which already exist with the travelling public. We are working through organisations in the travel industry, such as the Association of British Insurers, the Association of British Travel Agencies and the Federation of Tour Operators to ensure the message is sent to their membership companies and to the travelling public. We have produced leaflets and posters which have been distributed to travel agents and other outlets, including Thomas Cook, MyTravel, Boots the Chemists and British Airways travel shops. We have also worked with the Post Office, who process the E111, to ensure the new form is publicised in their outlets. Finally we have placed press advertising in the travel supplements of national newspapers across the United Kingdom and in travel trade magazines. Final costs are not yet available as this publicity is on-going but about 170,000 has been spent to date.

Health Service Ombudsman

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints were received by the Health Service Ombudsman in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Health Service Ombudsman publishes information about the handling of cases in her annual report, copies of which are available in the Library and on the Ombudsman's website at: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Health Spending (Chesterfield)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the health expenditure per head of the population in Chesterfield constituency has been in each year since 1997.

Stephen Ladyman: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Expenditure per weighted head of population in the Trent Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area, which includes the Chesterfield constituency, has increased from 610.10 in 199798 to 862.03 in 200203. However, this does not represent the total expenditure per head, as an element of health expenditure cannot be identified by SHA area.

Hearing Aids

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that guidelines on priorities for fitting digital hearing aids (a) take into account situations where a patient has mental health problems as well as hearing loss and (b) ensure that trusts carry out a holistic assessment of patients waiting for digital hearing aids.

Stephen Ladyman: Audiology services should develop their own priorities and guidelines for fitting digital hearing aids in consultation with primary care trusts and commissioners. Best practice would suggest that all clinical teams in the national health service should be undertaking holistic assessments of their clients, including consideration of any mental health problems, but this is a matter for trusts to determine and implement.

HIV

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people living in the West Midlands area are HIV positive.

Stephen Ladyman: There were 1,695 patients seen for statutory medical HIV-related care in the West Midlands in 2003, including 24 children born to infected mothers whose HIV infection status had not been confirmed.
	Source:
	Health Protection Agencysurvey of prevalent HIV infections diagnosed for 2003.

Hospital Infections

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of MRSA were recorded in each year since 1997; and how many resulted in death (a) in and (b) not in hospital.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 25 October 2004
	Available data on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections from the voluntary and mandatory surveillance systems are shown in the tables. One of the reasons that the Government introduced mandatory surveillance in April 2001 was that the previous voluntary system produced incomplete data. Neither of these systems provides information on patient outcomes, including death, but an in-depth study of deaths possibly related to health care acquired infections (including MRSA) is being commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer.
	
		Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (blood stream) laboratory reports (voluntary reporting scheme), England and Wales, 19972003
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997 2,422 
			 1998 2,851 
			 1999 3,332 
			 2000 4,272 
		
	
	Source:
	Health Protection Agency.
	
		Reports under the mandatory MRSA bacteraemia surveillance system (acute NHS trusts, England)
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 April 2001 to March 2002 7,250 
			 April 2002 to March 2003 7,384 
			 April 2003 to March 2004 7,647 
		
	
	Source:
	Health Protection Agency.

Hospital Infections

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which strains of MRSA primary care trusts are required to report; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Primary care trusts are not required to report methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The mandatory reporting of MRSA blood stream infections applies to acute trusts.

Hysterectomy

Huw Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information is provided by the NHS to women on treatment options for (a) menorrhagia and (b) uterine fibroids; and what alternatives to hysterectomy are available through the NHS for the treatment of each condition.

Stephen Ladyman: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance is provided in formats written for patients, carers and the public. NICE issued guidance on endometrial ablation for menorrhagia on 28 April 2004. It has issued guidelines on alternative surgical treatments for menorrhagia, including balloon thermal endometrial ablation (August 2003), uterine artery embolisation for fibroids (August 2003), free and fluid thermal endometrial ablation March 2003.
	NICE is developing a clinical guideline on hysterectomy, which is likely to include guidance on menorrhagia, as part of its eighth wave work programme. The anticipated publication date of this guideline is February 2006.
	The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) also produces information for patients, developed from guidelines. The RCOG leaflet on hysterectomy advises that alternative treatments may be appropriate for patients and that their doctors will be able to fully advise on these. The national electronic library for health programme is working with national health service libraries to develop a digital library for NHS staff, patients and the public and has recently developed a specialist library covering women's health.

Iraq

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are available for Iraqi nationals who are victims of violence in the war and who cannot be treated in Iraq due to medical deficiencies to be treated in hospitals in England; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: Iraqi nationals are treated in civilian health care facilities in Iraq wherever possible. Some requiring care may be treated by military field hospitals and, exceptionally for specialist care, may be brought back to United Kingdom hospitals where additional capacity has been made available.

IT Systems

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2004, Official Report, column 685W to the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) on IT systems, if he will break down the estimated costs by (a) procurement, (b) implementation and (c) running cost; and on what assumptions the estimates were based.

John Hutton: The procurement phase of the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) is now complete and contracts awarded are shown in the following table.
	
		
			   million 
		
		
			 Local service providers 4,988 
			 National health service care records service/spine 620 
			 New national network (N3) 530 
			 E-booking 65 
			 Total 6,203 
		
	
	These figures relate to contractual commitments. They cover ongoing funding of core deliverables and the connection of existing systems to national applications from central budgets.
	The 2.3 billion, earmarked in the 2002 spending review to fund the IT development and NPfIT central programme costs over the three years 200304 to 200506, was based on individual project business case assumptions about the speed and scope of deployment in the period concerned. This figure does not include the cost of training NHS staff or local change management costs.
	Funding for the local NHS service implementation and running costs of NPfIT will come from normal NHS allocations, which are being increased year on year and will reach 90 billion by 2008. This will involve prioritising normal expenditure, including training budgets to include NPfIT in local training programmes.
	Future funding to the NHS determined by the SR2004 expenditure settlement will enable trusts to achieve the target of 4 per cent. for total NHS spending on IT, set by the 2002 Wanless Report, Securing our Future Health. This total includes spending on IT provision outside the NPfIT remit, such as human resources and finance IT systems.

Junior Doctors

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of unemployment levels among non-UK trained junior doctors living in England.

John Hutton: In September 2003, the national health service employed almost 36,000 doctors who had obtained their medical qualification outside of the United Kingdom. The Department does not collect information about the unemployment levels of junior doctors.
	Junior doctors who have trained outside of the UK have to pass the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) examination before being accepted onto the General Medical Council (GMC) register. The GMC has surveyed doctors who have taken the PLAB examination in the last year to find out how quickly they obtain posts. The survey has shown that 93 per cent. have obtained a post within a year.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the patient choice agenda extends to mental health patients.

Rosie Winterton: A mental health choice steering group has been established under the auspices of the National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE). The group aims to inform the development of choice policy in mental health and has produced a discussion document which will be presented to the mental health taskforce in December.
	In 200203, NIMHE's Access, Booking and Choice in Mental Health programme was rolled out across each of its eight development centres in order to provide stakeholders from across local mental health communities with proven tools and techniques of service redesign. Detailed outcomes of this NIMHE programme are described in Improving Access and Choice: Service Improvement Guide, 2003 which is available on the NIMHE website at http://www.nimhe.org.uk/downloads/ABC%20lmproGuide%20Corr%27d%207 03.pdf

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that patients with severe mental health problems have access to (a) useful information and (b) the highest quality treatments.

Rosie Winterton: The national service framework for mental health (1999) set national standards and identified key interventions for working age adults with mental health problems.
	Clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) provide guidance on the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific mental health problems within the national health service.
	Technology appraisals published by NICE provide guidance on the use of new and existing medicines and treatments within the NHS.
	NICE runs a web-based online environment, the knowledge community (http://kc.nimhe.org.uk/), to help improve the delivery of mental health services. The knowledge community represents the diversity of approaches and perspectives that exist within the mental health field, and provides a practical means by which these can be brought together to improve services.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the proposed five-yearly review of the national service framework for mental health will examine issues relating to patient choice, with particular reference to (a) the availability of cognitive behaviour therapy and (b) implementation of guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for atypical antipsychotics where choice is central to that guidance.

Rosie Winterton: The national director for mental health's review of the national service framework for mental health (1999) looks at the implementation of its seven standards and the supporting programmes. The review will also take a forward look outlining future priorities for mental health including how these will align with broader national health service initiatives such as choice.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what objectives he has set the National Director for Mental Health in relation to patient choice.

Rosie Winterton: No specific objectives in relation to patient choice have been set for the national director for mental health. However, he is actively involved in the mental health choice steering group, which has been established under the auspices of the National Institute for Mental Health England to inform the development of choice policy in mental heath.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the implementation of current guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in relation to atypical antipsychotics;
	(2)  what monitoring he undertakes of the extent to which patients with newly diagnosed schizophrenia are being offered a clear choice of treatment, in line with guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence; and what assessment he has made of the barriers to implement that guidance.

Rosie Winterton: Responsibility to implement guidance published by National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is devolved within the National Health Services to local trusts, supported and performance managed by strategic health authorities. The Department has made no assessments of the kind outlined by my hon. Friend.
	However, the Department routinely monitors prescribing trends of all antipsychotics. For the year ending June 2004, atypical antipsychotics accounted for 60 per cent. of all prescription items of antipsychotics dispensed in the community in England, compared to 48 per cent. of all antipsychotics for the year ending June 2002, when the relevant NICE appraisal guidance was published.
	Since January 2002, the National Health Service has had three months from the date of publication of each technology appraisal guidance to provide funding so that clinical decisions made by doctors involving NICE recommended treatments or drugs can be funded.

Leighton Hospital

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the future of the mother and baby unit in the mental health unit at Leighton hospital;
	(2)  what representations he has received about the proposed closure of the mother and baby unit in the mental health unit at Leighton hospital;
	(3)  for what reasons the mother and baby unit in the mental health unit at Leighton hospital will be closed;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) patients and (b) patients' families of the closure of the mother and baby unit in the mental health unit at Leighton hospital;
	(5)  what provisions there is for mentally ill mothers with babies in the (a) Cheshire, (b) Wirral, (c) Merseyside, (d) North Wales, (e) Shropshire and (f) North Staffordshire areas; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The provision of services for people locally is the responsibility of primary care trusts (PCTs), in partnership with their local communities to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place which will meet the needs of client groups. Strategic health authorities are responsible for performance managing their local PCTs to ensure that appropriate services are commissioned for the communities they serve.
	The future of the mother and baby unit at Leighton hospital is a matter for the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust, in partnership with its local PCTs. The trust has put forward proposals regarding the mother and baby unit, which are considered to be consistent with current developments in perinatal mental health.
	According to departmental records, one letter and six questions from hon. and right hon. Members have been received on this issue.

Leighton Hospital

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will calculate the cost of running the mother and baby unit in the mental health unit at Leighton hospital in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Melanie Johnson: The information requested is not collected centrally.

MRI/CT Scanners

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) MRI and (b) CT scanners each NHS trust has; and what the age of each machine is.

Melanie Johnson: There are currently 230 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and 335 computed tomography (CT) scanners installed in the national health service in England. The complete list, detailing the location and age of each scanner, has been placed in the Library.
	To date, new and replacement equipment provided through central programmes includes: 66 new MRI scanners, 83 linear accelerators, 166 CT scanners and over 700 items of breast screening equipment; all delivered since April 2000.
	This means that, in total, approximately 50 per cent. of MRI scanners, 67 per cent. of CT scanners and 56 per cent. of linear accelerators now in use in the NHS are new since January 2000.

NHS Consultants/Doctors

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time NHS (a) consultants and (b) other hospital doctors there were in each speciality in hospitals in (i) Scunthorpe and (ii) Grimsby in each year since 1994.

Melanie Johnson: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

NHS Live 2004

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget is for NHS Live 2004 in the area covered by Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority.

Rosie Winterton: The NHS Live budget is not broken down by specific strategic health authority area.

NHS Logistics Authority

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent discussions he has had with trade unions in relation to the proposed abolition of the NHS Logistics Authority;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the future of the NHS Logistics Authority.

Rosie Winterton: Reconfiguring the Department of Health's Arm's Length Bodies (July 2004) included the proposal that the work of the National Health Service Logistics Authority would be market-tested. This involved the publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), which notified potential bidders in member states of the European Union of the Department's intention to market test the proposed outsourcing of the supply chain and procurement services for the NHS. This was published on 19 August 2004.
	Organisations interested in bidding for the contract had to apply to the Department in order to participate in the competition. These interested parties have had to complete and submit a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). This will ensure that only suitably qualified candidates will be short-listed to submit bids. The PQQ closed on 8 October and the Department is currently in the process of evaluating the responses.
	At this stage, no decision has been taken about contracting out. Only when the market testing has been completed will a final decision be made. However, consultation with the unions has begun. Representatives from the NHS Logistics Authority, NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) and the commercial directorate were invited to Unison's initiative day on 13 September. A representative from the Public and Commercial Services union was also present. This was the start of the formal consultation process.
	For the purposes of consultation, Unison has established a group comprising a representative from each distribution centre within the NHS Logistics Authority. This team meets monthly with the NHS Logistics Authority, NHS PASA and the commercial directorate.

Ritalin

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged (a) up to five, (b) five to 10 and (c) 10 to 14 years are currently being treated with ritalin within (a) North East Bedfordshire, (b) Bedford Primary Care Trust area and (c) Bedfordshire Heartlands Primary Care Trust; what percentage of children within each cohort these figures represent; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: Information is not available in the form requested. The Department does not hold data on the number of people who receive a particular medication. However, the figures in the table show the total number of prescription items of methylphenidate hydrochloride dispensed in the community for a 12 month period up to June 2004. Ritalin is one brand of the drug methylphenidate.
	
		Total items dispensed
		
			  (Thousand) 
		
		
			 England 263.7 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic  Health Authority 8.5 
			 Bedford Primary Care Trust (PCT) 0.6 
			 Bedfordshire Heartlands PCT 1.9 
		
	
	Source:
	Prescription cost analysis data from the Prescription Pricing Authority.
	In 2003, it is estimated that around 90 per cent., of all prescription items of methylphenidate were dispensed in the community to children.

Smear Tests

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in Hull and the East Riding had smear tests in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004.

Melanie Johnson: The information is shown in the table.
	
		Cervical screening programme: number of tests and coverage of target age group (2564) by primary care organisation,200203 and 200304
		
			  Number of women screened (Thousand) Coverage (less than 5 years  since last adequate test) (Percentage) 
			  200203 200304 200203 200304 
		
		
			 North and East Yorkshire and North  Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority 108.4 106.6 85.2 84.5 
			 East Yorkshire Primary Care Trust 10.9 10.6 87.9 87.4 
			 Eastern Hull Primary Care Trust 7.7 7.4 84.7 83.6 
			 West Hull Primary Care Trust 9.5 9.3 82.2 81.3 
			 Yorkshire Wolds and Coast Primary Care Trust 10.1 10.0 86.2 85.6 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health Statistical Bulletin: Cervical Screening Programme, England: 200304

Pharmacists

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost will be of the new community pharmacy contract to pharmacists looking to expand their practices.

Rosie Winterton: The new funding arrangements for community pharmacy have been informed by a cost of service inquiry for existing provision and detailed modelling of the costs of new services. The cost to community pharmacies of expanding services to include those detailed in the new contractual framework will vary. Cost will be dependant on the size of the pharmacy, how easily premises can be adapted to offer additional services, staffing levels and which services are to be provided.

Processed Food (Salt)

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he will take to ensure that supermarkets and food manufacturers reduce the salt content of processed food products.

Melanie Johnson: The Department and the Food Standards Agency are working together with all parts of the food industry, including retailers and manufacturers, to reduce the salt levels of processed foods. The aim is to reduce average intakes of salt to six grams per person per day by 2010.

Waiting Times

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Hull and the East Riding waited 13 weeks or more for an out-patient appointment in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004.

Melanie Johnson: The information is shown in the table.
	
		Waiting times for first consultant out-patient appointment following General/Dental Practitioner referral
		
			  Quarter NHS Trust Patients who waited over 13 weeks 
		
		
			 200203 4 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 28 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 15,994 
			 
			 200304 1 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 26 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 3,901 
			 
			 200304 2 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 13 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 4,708 
			 
			 200304 3 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 11 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5,007 
			 
			 200304 4 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 20 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 4,287 
			 
			 200405 1 Hull and East Riding Community Health NHS Trust 0 
			   Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 3,262 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health form QM08.

Waiting Times

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what changes there have been to NHS waiting list times for residents of South West Surrey in the past seven years;
	(2)  how many in-patients in the primary health trust covering South West Surrey had to wait more than (a) three, (b) six, (c) nine and (d) 12 months for treatment in each year since 1997; and what the percentage change was in each case.

Rosie Winterton: The numbers of people waiting more than three, six, nine and 12 months for treatment in each year since 1997 and the comparisons for the last seven years are shown in the tables.
	
		Patients waiting for elective in-patient admission: Position at month-end
		
			Patients waiting over: 
			  Health authority (HA) or primary care trust (PCT) Total patients waiting Three months Six months Nine months 12 months 
		
		
			 1997(6) West Surrey HA 15,339 8,810 4,925 2,449 838 
			 1998(6) West Surrey HA 17,648 10,892 6,996 3,952 1,602 
			 1999(6) West Surrey HA 14,521 8,920 5,491 2,809 1,180 
			 2000(6) West Surrey HA 15,400 9,739 5,965 3,416 1,618 
			 2001(6) West Surrey HA 14,608 8,595 5,188 3,009 1,420 
			 2002(6) West Surrey HA 13,718 7,404 3,970 1,806 558 
			 2003(6) Guildford and Waverley PCT 4,436 2,196 973 302 0 
			 2004(6) Guildford and Waverley PCT 4,117 1,601 375 0 0 
			 2004(7) Guildford and Waverley PCT 3,778 1,486 328 0 0 
		
	
	(6) March
	(7) August
	Source:
	Department of Health form QF01 and monthly monitoring.
	
		Patients waiting for elective in-patient admission: Percentage of change on previous period
		
			   Patients waiting over: 
			 Month end Health authority (HA) or primary care trust (PCT) Three months Six months Nine months 12 months 
		
		
			 1997(8) West Surrey HA 
			 1998(8) West Surrey HA 23.6 42.1 61.4 91 .2 
			 1999(8) West Surrey HA -18.1 -21.5 -28.9 -26.3 
			 2000(8) West Surrey HA 9.2 8.6 21.6 37.1 
			 2001(8) West Surrey HA -11.7 -13.0 -11.9 -12.2 
			 2002(8) West Surrey HA -13.9 -23.5 -40.0 -60.7 
			 2003(8) Guildford and Waverley PCT 
			 2004(8) Guildford and Waverley PCT -27.1 -61.5 -100.0  
			 2004(9) Guildford and Waverley PCT -7.2 -12.5   
		
	
	(8) March
	(9) August

Willerby Call Centre

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what call statistics have been collated for the East Riding NHS Direct call centre in Willerby for the last 12 months.

Melanie Johnson: This information is not held centrally.

Yellow Card Scheme

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether he plans to make the Yellow Card scheme a compulsory component of clinical training of medical students;
	(2)  what plans he has to increase awareness of the Yellow Card scheme among (a) health professionals and (b) patients;
	(3)  what measures he has taken in response to the findings of the Report of an Independent Review of Access to the Yellow Card scheme;
	(4)  what plans he has to allow patients to send yellow card reports to the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Rosie Winterton: The report of an independent review of access to yellow card scheme was published in May 2004 and my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Lord Warner, immediately accepted the recommendation to introduce a system of direct patient reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). An expert working group of the Committee on the Safety of Medicines (CSM) has been established to advise on how best to develop effective patient reporting nationally, including aspects of communication and evaluation. The expert working group is chaired by Dr. Patricia Wilkie, a lay-member of the CSM; is multidisciplinary, has broad representation and has met twice to date. Work has commenced on the development of pilot patient reporting schemes.
	In advance of the first formal pilot, the MHRA has already begun work on a pre-pilot survey of patients who have experienced suspected adverse drug reactions during the last year, so the patient perspective can be built into the development of pilot schemes from the outset. Invitations to patients to be involved in this survey, which will help to shape the future design of direct patient reporting systems are going out this week, to coincide with Ask About Medicines week.
	The independent review of access to the yellow card scheme also includes recommendations to strengthen the scheme by raising public awareness of the important role the scheme has in protecting public health. The report recommends that a communications strategy should be developed to improve professional and public education and provision of information about the yellow card scheme and that the scheme should receive greater emphasis during the clinical training of all health professionals, whether they prescribe or not. These specific recommendations are being considered in conjunction with the other recommendations in the report.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Consultancy Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to his answer of 19 October 2004, Official Report, columns 56264W, on consultancy services, 
	(1)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Options Consultancy Services Ltd. in 19992000, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(2)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Deloitte  Touche South Africa in 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract and (b) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(3)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Adam Smith International Ltd. in each year from 19992000 to 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(4)  if he will list the contracts awarded to The Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations Ltd. in each year from 19992000 to 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(5)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Arcadis BMB in 200102 listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(6)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Maxwell Stamp plc in 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract and (b) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(7)  if he will list the contracts awarded to WSP International Ltd. in each year from 19992000 to 200102, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract and (b) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(8)  if he will list the contracts awarded to ATOS KPMG Consulting Ltd. in (a) 200001 and (b) 200203; what was conducted under the contract; what the value of the contracts was; and in which country the work was conducted;
	(9)  if he will list the new contracts awarded to each consultancy during 200304; what work was conducted under each contract; and in which country;
	(10)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Futures Group Europe Ltd., listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract and (b) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(11)  if he will list the contracts awarded to IHSD Ltd./HLSP in each year from 19992000 to 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(12)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Oxford Policy management Ltd. in each year from 200001 to 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(13)  if he will list the contracts awarded to the British Council in each year from 19992000 to 200203, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract and (b) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(14)  if he will list the contracts awarded to GRM International Ltd., listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted;
	(15)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Roughton International, listing the type of work conducted under the contract, the value of the contract and the country in which the work was conducted;
	(16)  if he will list the contracts awarded to Enterprise plc, listing the type of work conducted under the contract, the value of the contract and the country in which the work was conducted;
	(17)  if he will list the contracts awarded to PricewaterhouseCoopers in 19992000, listing (a) the type of work conducted under the contract, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the country in which the work was conducted.

Hilary Benn: The information requested will be placed in the Libraries of the House shortly, in a document entitled Top 20 Consultancy Firms 1999 to 2004Contracts Awarded

Departmental Estate

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the properties occupied by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2004; and what the (A) area and (B) annual rental value (1) in aggregate and (2) in each case was in each year.

Hilary Benn: The properties occupied by DFID in the UK in 1997 and in 2004, their area, and annual rental value, are as set out in the table. There are no agencies for which DFID is responsible. The rent at 20 Victoria Street increased following a rent review in 2002 and because DFID took over full occupancy of the building
	
		
			  Area (sq m) Rental value ( million) 
		
		
			 1997   
			 94 Victoria St, London 13,093 4,659,300 
			 20 Victoria St, London 1,055 250,000 
			 Abercrombie House, East Kilbride 8,755 575,500 
			 Total 23,026 5,484,800 
			
			 2004   
			 1 Palace St, London 15,910 4,693,450 
			 20 Victoria St, London 1,178 462,820 
			 Abercrombie House, East Kilbride (including extension) 9,755 669,100 
			 Total 26,843 5,825,370

Departmental IT

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level.

Hilary Benn: Less than 5 per cent. of DFID's current computer systems use Open Source Software (OSS) components. It is expected that by 2007, up to 70 per cent. of DFID's computer systems will include some OSS components, using the definition adopted by the Open Source Initiative. DFID's policies for software procurement follow the Office of Government Commerce's level playing field policy in relation to OSS. This does not require the raising of levels of OSS usage in Government, rather that Government considers OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements and that contracts should be awarded on a value for money, case by case basis. The policy can be viewed at www.govtalk.gov.uk

Ghana

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when the IPPD2 Ghana payroll system project started; what the initial contract value of the project was; what the projected total contract value is; what the (a) original and (b) current estimated completion date is; and what assessment has been made of the value for money represented by the project.

Hilary Benn: A project for the replacement of the Government of Ghana's Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD2) was agreed between Britain and Ghana in May 1999. The total commitment was 3.5 million, of which 1.5 million was designated for contracts for goods and services and 2 million was designated for financial aid to the Government of Ghana. The projected completion date was October 2000. When that date was reached, expenditure amounted to 2.3 million, of which 1.2 million had been spent on contracts for goods and services and 1.1 million had been spent on financial aid. However, DFID decided that there were serious obstacles to the achievement of the project's objectives, and informed the Government of Ghana that the funding commitment would not be extended.
	Since then there have been extensive discussions with the Government of Ghana over restarting the project. A further grant of 3.9 million was agreed in principle, in October 2002, but lapsed in March 2004. 129,000 was spent under the grant for an audit of the previous work and advice on options. However, there is presently no agreed project receiving DFID support, and no date for completion of the IPPD replacement.
	The project has previously been reported to the House as only partly achieving [its] purpose and output during 2003Official Report, 20 May 2004, columns 112223W. A subsequent analysis of the project's implementation status found that the project had not met its objectives.

Temporary Staff

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally.

Hilary Benn: DFID currently has no central record of agency workers, and therefore this information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Civil Servants

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the average length of continuous service for civil servants within the Department is.

Douglas Alexander: In 2003 (the latest date for which figures are available) civil servants then employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had been in continuous employment for an average of just over 13 years.

Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much expenditure his Department has incurred in each year since 2002 on employing external consultants to deal with the press and public relations of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: As set out in my reply to the right hon. and learned Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram) on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 171W, in FY 200203the most recent year for which audited figures are availablethe Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) central expenditure on public relations external consultancy totalled 291,971. Of this, 268,862 was paid to a single agency for work on the consular awareness-raising campaign Know Before You Go.
	The FCO's overseas posts and its non-departmental public bodies occasionally employ public relations external consultants, but details are not recorded centrally. Information about the costs incurred by these activities could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The FCO is unaware of any central expenditure on press-related external consultancy.

Departmental Disciplinary Procedures

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total cost in each of the last three financial years was of his Department's internal disciplinary procedures; and how much was spent on (a) external lawyers and (b) commissioning independent experts and adjudications.

Douglas Alexander: We do not have precise figures readily available for the costs incurred as a result of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) internal disciplinary procedures over the last three years. The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. In the majority of cases legal advice is provided by FCO legal advisers. We would commission specialist external advice only if there were a need to consult on a detailed question of employment law.

Departmental Staff

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data are kept centrally.

Douglas Alexander: We do not have a central record of the numbers of staff employed under contract from agencies; to obtain these figures would incur disproportionate costs. We do, however, have the costs, which are:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 200001 1,255,817 
			 200102 1,933,841 
			 200203 1,850,779 
			 200304 1,630,613

Entry Clearance

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many entry clearance refusals he has overturned in 2004.

Chris Mullin: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not overturned any refusals in 2004 but I, as the Minister responsible for entry clearance matters overseas, have overturned 13 refusals in 2004 to date.

EU Savings Directive

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the EU Savings Directive on the (a) British Virgin Islands, (b) Cayman Islands and (c) other dependent territories.

Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 25 October 2004, Official Report, column 1057W.

Gabon

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has for the establishment of a British (a) consulate and (b) embassy in Gabon; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: We have no plans to open either a consulate or an embassy in Gabon. The British high commissioner to Cameroon, who is resident in Yaound, is accredited as ambassador to Gabon. We have also appointed a British honorary consul who is resident in Libreville.

Gibraltar

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Gibraltar; and which issues were discussed.

Denis MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar on 20 October. They were also in contact on 27 October to discuss the content of the joint statement made by the Foreign Secretary and his Spanish counterpart, Senor Moratinos. The Chief Minister confirmed that he was entirely content with the joint statement.

Iraq

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his US counterparts concerning measures to protect (a) Christian communities and (b) Christian churches from terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Bill Rammell: We are in regular contact with our US counterparts at all levels on security issues in Iraq. UK and US officials in Iraq regularly meet with members of the Christian communities. And we have raised their concerns with the Iraqi authorities. Our missions in Iraq are monitoring the situation closely.

Iraq

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what role the Government plan for the UN in ensuring independent monitoring of the forthcoming elections in Iraq.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 1 November 2004
	The UN is supporting elections in Iraq as mandated in UNSCR 1546 through providing advice and training to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), the lead body responsible for preparing elections. Among its many tasks, the IECI with the help of the UN is training independent Iraqi election monitors.

Sudan

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of access for humanitarian and human rights organisations to all parts of Sudan.

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.
	The issue of access is key to the precarious humanitarian situation in Darfur and the rest of Sudan. Humanitarian access has been improving. In the initial stages of the crisis the humanitarian community faced many obstacles in responding to the situation. Significant pressure was placed on the Government of Sudan by the UK and others to help ensure the entry and movement of humanitarian staff, commodities, and equipment into Darfur. As a result, the Government of Sudan have made positive steps in enhancing access and DFID is monitoring the situation. This progress is reflected in the rise in the number humanitarian staff operating in Darfur. This has increased from 2,043 staff of which 322 were international on 1 July 2004 to a figure of 6,154 staff on 1 October, of which 779 were international.
	Access by the UN to people involved has gradually improved. In the UN's most recent Humanitarian Needs Profile (1 October), it reported that it had reached 88 per cent. of the 2 million people affected by the conflict. The level of access differs from 98 per cent. of the affected population in West Darfur to 89 per cent. in North Darfur, and 73 per cent. in South Darfur.
	Humanitarian access in Darfur mainly depends on two factors: the degree of insecurity on the ground and road and weather conditions. Although the UN has agreed operating procedures with the Sudan Liberation Movement, access to Sudan Liberation Army-held areas remains problematic due to recent restrictions imposed by the rebel groups as well as several security incidents. Across the rest of the country, the picture is mixed, It is still difficult for some agencies to access areas such as Southern Blue Nile and parts of Kassla State (Hamesh Koreb). Elsewhere, access is better, although the security situation can change at short notice.
	The British Government take the problems in Sudan extremely seriously. In the last two months, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Africa and myself, visited Sudan and urged the Government of Sudan to meet the commitments they gave to the UN regarding humanitarian access and security. The Foreign Secretary secured the Government of Sudan's agreement to access to Darfur for human rights agencies previously denied visas. In Khartoum, the ambassador has taken the lead in establishing regular meetings with the Government of Sudan, NGO's and donors to discuss among other things, the question of access in Sudan, highlighting specific instances of ongoing bureaucratic difficulties.
	The UN and the UK Government along with others, continue to press both the Government of Sudan and the rebels to allowed unfettered access throughout Darfur. We are also pressing all parties to sign and deliver on the Abuja humanitarian protocol.

Sudan

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Sudan about the need to ensure that all parties to the peace process grant the International Committee of the Red Cross the assistance it needs to carry out its protection mandate.

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.
	The UK is actively trying to ensure access for all humanitarian agencies, including the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC). DFID works with colleagues from the UN, and other Development Ministers, to press both the Government of Sudan and the rebels to allowed unfettered access throughout Darfur. DFID is pressing all parties to sign and deliver on the Abuja humanitarian protocol.
	In the last two months, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Africa and myself have all visited Sudan to urge the Government of Sudan to meet the commitments it gave to the UN regarding humanitarian access and security.
	DFID regularly raises the importance of protection of civilians in our discussions with the Government of Sudan.
	Through direct aid, the UK continues to support the humanitarian community and is now the second biggest bilateral donor in Sudan, allocating since March this year 55.5 million for Darfur and 35 million for Sudan as a whole. Of this, DFID has committed 4.5million to the ICRC for the whole of Sudan.

Uzbekistan

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the withdrawal of Mr. Craig Murray, former Ambassador to Uzbekistan.

Jack Straw: Operational staffing decisions are taken by senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials, in accordance with long-standing convention. My officials decided to withdraw Mr. Murray from his post as he was no longer able to perform effectively the full range of duties required in the conduct of our relations with Uzbekistan. Mr. Murray has since been suspended on full pay pending investigation into his conduct in relation to a number of statements which have been made about the FCO.

Uzbekistan

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set up an inquiry into the leaking of a confidential report from former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, to The Financial Times.

Douglas Alexander: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched an investigation on 14 October into the leak of a confidential document to the Financial Times, in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines.

Zimbabwe

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will estimate the number of British war (a) veterans and (b) widows living in Zimbabwe; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: There are currently 13,000 British nationals resident in Zimbabwe but the records do not specify how many of them are war veterans and widows.

Zimbabwe

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) financial and (b) physical wellbeing of British war (i) veterans and (ii) widows living in Zimbabwe; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: We do not make assessments of financial or physical wellbeing of British nationals living overseas, whether war veterans or not. If a British national is in need of consular assistance, we will help as much as we properly can.

Zimbabwe

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans Her Majesty's Government have to organise the emergency repatriation of British war (a) veterans and (b) widows living in Zimbabwe who express a wish to return to the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mullin: Although we have emergency evacuation plans for British nationals in the event of certain scenarios, for example civil disorder or natural disaster, we do not have any specific plans to repatriate those British war veterans and widows who express a wish to return to the UK.
	If British war veterans or widows express a wish to return to the UK, we will offer all appropriate advice and assistance we can, eg contacting relatives or friends in the UK for financial or other assistance. We may also be able to help with travel documents. We can also provide information on such things as state benefits, health and education services, citizenship and employment, to inform returning UK nationals about the options available to them on return to the UK.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Closed-circuit Television

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of change in criminal activity in Northern Ireland since the introduction of CCTV in a number of urban centres.

John Spellar: There are currently 19 publicly funded town centre CCTV systems installed across Northern Ireland for the purposes of tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.
	The former Police Authority for Northern Ireland who handled the allocation of funding for most of the town centre schemes in Northern Ireland, required each individual scheme to arrange an evaluation of their performance in the two years after the CCTV system became operational. All evaluations received to date indicate that in the areas where CCTV was in operation, crime was reduced or, the rate of increase was slower than other areas and the level of detection of crime increased. In some areas the level of reported crime increased as the cameras witnessed crimes not normally reported, thought this was usually combined with an increase in detection.
	It is also important to point out that levels of recorded crime have fallen across Northern Ireland over the past two years. This is due to a number of factors, including improved police performance. However, I have little doubt that CCTV has also played a part in this reduction.

Explorers Programme

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what criteria he has used to assess the value for money of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's Explorers Programme; what assessment he has made of that programme's performance; and if he will make a statement.

John Spellar: The Explorers Programme was externally assessed by KPMG in December 2001. This assessment confirmed that the programme offered value for money and made a positive contribution to the Northern Ireland economy.
	A wide range of criteria were used to assess the achievement of both tangible outputs reflected in growth in exports by participating companies and intangible outputs such as addressing psychological barriers to exporting.
	The programme continues to be assessed internally using the broad portfolio of measures identified and applied by KPMG and is currently meeting its targets and objectives.
	The programme contributes to addressing commitments and targets contained in the Programme for Government published by the former Northern Ireland Executive, which are in turn reflected in the objectives of the Invest NI Corporate Plan 200205.

Health Service

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much of the money raised by the introduction of water charges is planned to be spent on the Health Service.

John Spellar: The self-financing arrangements for water and sewerage services to be introduced from 200607, or as soon as practicable thereafter, will require all customers, domestic and non-domestic, to contribute directly towards the cost of the services they receive. The charges will be used solely for the purposes of water and sewerage services. The introduction of self-financing arrangements will therefore free resources within the Northern Ireland Departmental expenditure limit for allocation to other public spending priorities, as determined within the annual public expenditure planning process.

Library Board Suspensions

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the recent suspension of officials from the (a) Belfast education and library board and (b) South Eastern education and library board following the discovery of budget deficits.

Barry Gardiner: I have been informed by the Belfast education and library board that both its chief executive and its deputy chief finance officer are currently under precautionary suspension. I understand that the South Eastern board has suspended its chief finance officer, again as a precautionary measure.
	As these suspensions are precautionary measures, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the specifics of each case.

Prisons

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether slopping-out is still required in any prisons in Northern Ireland.

Ian Pearson: Generally, daily slopping-out of cells is no longer required in any prisons in Northern Ireland. Maghaberry has in-cell sanitation and both Hydebank Wood and Magilligan operate an electronic unlock to facilitate access to toilets. Both of the latter establishments do provide plastic chamber pots, if requested, but these are for emergencies only and are seldom asked for or used.

Prisons

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) baseline certified normal accommodation, (b) in-use certified normal accommodation, (c) operational capacity, (d) useable operational capacity and (e) current population is of each prison and young offenders institution in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Cells Inmates 
		
		
			 (a) Baseline certified normal accommodation 1449  
			 (b) In-use certified normal accommodation 1283  
			 (c) Operational capacity 1303  
			 (d) Useable operational capacity 1303  
			 (e) Current population:   
			 HMP Maghaberry Prison  723 
			 HMP Magilligan Prison  348 
			 Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre  263 
		
	
	Note:
	The number of cells at (a) and (b) exclude Healthcare Centres and Special Supervision Units. Due to insufficient staff resources, 146 cells are currently out of use, including 58 in Mourne House, Maghaberry, which is being held as contingency accommodation. The figures shown at (e) include prisoners on temporary release.

Schools (Maintenance Work)

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the backlog was of (a) high priority and (b) other maintenance work in the schools estate in Northern Ireland at (i) 31 March 2001, (ii) 31 March 2002, (iii) 31 March 2003, (iv) 31 March 2004; what the backlog is now; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The information is as follows.
	(a) Estimates of maintenance work are identified through ongoing condition surveys of the schools' estate. High priority maintenance is defined as work required on buildings in either a poor or very poor condition. The estimated cost of addressing the high priority maintenance backlog in the school estate at the dates requested is as follows:
	
		
			 Backlog at 31 March 000 
		
		
			 (i) 2001 (10)139,400 
			 (ii) 2002 131,980 
			 (iii) 2003 126,200 
			 (iv) 2004 123,800 
			 (v) Estimated figures at 31 October 2004 125,704 
		
	
	(10) The first set of condition surveys was not fully completed by 31 March 2001. The total estimate for 2001 is based on an estimate of 114.4 million as calculated at the time plus 25 million subsequently identified once the surveys were completed.
	(b) Other maintenanceno information is currently held on the estimated costs of other maintenance.
	Over the period April 2001 to March 2004 some 41.5 million was spent on addressing high priority maintenance work.

Temporary Classrooms

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many temporary classrooms there are in schools in Northern Ireland; how many there were at the end of each financial year since 200001; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: The Department of Education has recently carried out a survey to ascertain the number of temporary classrooms currently in use. The outcome of the survey indicated that at 31 March 2004 there were 2,964 temporary classrooms in the school's estate.
	Similar surveys were not undertaken in previous years so it is not possible to provide comparative figures for those years. The number of temporary classrooms in use changes in line with the resources available and schools' needs. Over the three year period from April 2001 to March 2004 a total of 369 temporary classrooms were removed from the schools' estate, and 69 classrooms were added. There are plans to remove 165 temporary classrooms in 200405 and 746 in subsequent years based on investment already planned for the schools' estate.

Tsar Appointments

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many tsars have been appointed with responsibilities which cover part of the work of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

John Spellar: None.

TREASURY

Equity Release Schemes

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2004, Official Report, column 1381W, on equity release schemes, what plans he has to change the inheritance tax rules which impact on equity release schemes.

John Healey: We have no such plans.

Income Tax (Pensioners)

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pensioners paid (a) no income tax, (b) 10 per cent. income tax, (c) basic rate income tax and (d) higher rate income tax, in England, in (i) 1997 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 288W.
	The numbers of pensioner taxpayers over state retirement age in the UK for the year 200102 are given in the table.
	
		
			 200102 Number (Thousand) 
		
		
			 (a) No tax(11) 6,070 
			 (b) Starting rate tax 1,000 
			 Savers rate 550 
			 (c) Basic rate 3,020 
			 (d) Higher rate 210 
		
	
	(11) Source:
	ONS mid-year population estimates and GAD population projections
	The estimates are based upon the Survey of Personal Incomes.

Working Tax Credit

John Denham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which errors in the calculation of working tax credit were caused by mistakes by staff in the last period for which figures are available.

John Healey: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General gave to the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) on 22 March 2004, Official Report, column 666W.

WORK AND PENSIONS

70-plus Payment

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate how many people will need to make a claim for the one-off 70-plus Payment; how many claims have been received; and whether there is a deadline before which a claim needs to be submitted to ensure payment before 25 December.

Malcolm Wicks: It is impossible to estimate with confidence how many people will have to claim the one-off 70-plus payment but we think very few indeed of the approximate 6.4 million pensioners who are entitled will have to claim. One person has claimed so far but this pensioner would have been paid automatically. The deadline for claiming is 30 March 2005. Any who claim will be paid as soon as possible.

70-plus Payment

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was in 200304 of benefits payable because the beneficiary had a medical condition or disability; and how much of that sum constituted payments for which the beneficiary qualified because of chronic pain.

Maria Eagle: In 200304, total Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance payments amounted to some 11 billion and of this sum an estimated 4.1 billion was paid to people for whom their recorded main disabling condition was one usually associated with chronic pain.

Benefit Payments (Pensioners)

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the value of expenditure (a) in cash terms, (b) at current prices and (c) as a share of gross domestic product on (i) retirement pensions, (ii) winter fuel payments, (iii) means-tested benefits for pensioners, (iv) all other benefits for pensioners and (v) free television licences in each year from 199293 to the end of the public expenditure planning period.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the following tables.
	
		Table 1: Retirement pension
		
			  Nominal terms ( million) Real terms 200405 prices ( million) Share of GDP (percentage) 
		
		
			 199293 27,955 37,648 4.54 
			 199394 29,559 38,775 4.53 
			 199495 30,191 39,036 4.38 
			 199596 31,235 39,249 4.29 
			 199697 33,045 40,176 4.27 
			 199798 34,393 40,770 4.18 
			 199899 36,169 41,673 4.16 
			 19992000 38,092 42,953 4.14 
			 200001 38,868 43,325 4.04 
			 200102 42,041 45,698 4.19 
			 200203 44,519 46,816 4.21 
			 200304 46,609 47,684 4.17 
			 200405 48,824 48,824 4.15 
			 200506 51,426 50,162 4.14 
			 200607 54,153 51,442 4.14 
			 200708 57,425 53,117 4.19 
		
	
	
		Table 2: Winter fuel payment
		
			  Nominal terms ( million) Real terms 200405 prices ( million) Share of GDP (percentage) 
		
		
			 199293
			 199394
			 199495
			 199596
			 199697
			 199798 191 226 0.02 
			 199899 194 224 0.02 
			 19992000 759 856 0.08 
			 200001 1,749 1,950 0.18 
			 200102 1,681 1,827 0.17 
			 200203 1,700 1,788 0.16 
			 200304 1,935 1,980 0.17 
			 200405 1,957 1,957 0.17 
			 200506 1,986 1,937 0.16 
			 200607 1,352 1,284 0.10 
			 200708 1,387 1,283 0.10 
		
	
	
		Table 3: Income-related benefits
		
			  Nominal terms ( million) Real terms 200405 prices ( million) Share of GDP (percentage) 
		
		
			 199293 7,221 9,725 1.17 
			 199394 8,026 10,528 1.23 
			 199495 8,302 10,734 1.20 
			 199596 8,449 10,617 1.16 
			 199697 8,551 10,396 1.11 
			 199798 8,581 10,172 1.04 
			 199899 8,533 9,832 0.98 
			 19992000 8,820 9,945 0.96 
			 200001 9,375 10,450 0.97 
			 200102 10,121 11,001 1.01 
			 200203 10,517 11,059 0.99 
			 200304 11,076 11,332 0.99 
			 200405 12,552 12,552 1.07 
			 200506 13,388 13,059 1.08 
			 200607 14,475 13,750 1.11 
			 200708 15,580 14,411 1.14 
		
	
	
		Table 4: Over-75 TV licences
		
			  Nominal terms ( million) Real terms 200405 prices ( million) Share of GDP (percentage) 
		
		
			 199293
			 199394
			 199495
			 199596
			 199697
			 199798
			 199899
			 19992000
			 200001 306 341 0.03 
			 200102 365 397 0.04 
			 200203 385 405 0.04 
			 200304 397 406 0.04 
			 200405 422 422 0.04 
			 200506 444 433 0.04 
			 200607 467 443 0.04 
			 200708 467 455 0.04 
		
	
	
		Table 5: Other benefits for pensioners
		
			  Nominal terms ( million) Real terms 200405 prices ( million) Share of GDP (percentage) 
		
		
			 199293 210 283 0.03 
			 199394 226 296 0.03 
			 199495 231 298 0.03 
			 199596 235 296 0.03 
			 199697 233 284 0.03 
			 199798 260 309 0.03 
			 199899 269 310 0.03 
			 19992-00 263 296 0.03 
			 200001 282 314 0.03 
			 200102 286 311 0.03 
			 200203 283 297 0.03 
			 200304 292 299 0.03 
			 200405 798 798 0.07 
			 200506 296 288 0.02 
			 200607 298 283 0.02 
			 200708 302 279 0.02 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are consistent with Spending Review 2004.
	2. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at 30 June 2004.
	3. All expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest million.
	4. Table 1contributory and non-contributory retirement pension or equivalent benefit paid to those over state pension age.
	5. Table 2includes over-80s payment from 200001200506.
	6. Table 3includes income support over 60/minimum income guarantee/pension credit and housing benefit and community charge/council tax benefit.
	7. Table 5includes contributory and non-contributory Christmas bonus, severe disablement allowance, Over-70 payment (200405 only) and pensions compensation board.
	Source:
	All tables: Benefit Expenditure Tables 1 and 2, published on the internet at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp

Benefit Payments

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of people in the United Kingdom are claiming (a) incapacity benefit, (b) the children's tax credit, (c) bereavement benefit, (d) attendance allowance, (e) council tax credit, (f) invalid care allowance, (g) housing benefit and (h) disability living allowance.

Maria Eagle: The available information is in the table.
	
		Percentage of the population receiving benefits
		
			  Percentage of GB population Percentage of relevant population Relevant age group 
		
		
			 Incapacity Benefit(12) 5 7 16 and over 
			 Bereavement Benefits(12) 0.08 0.37 Bereavement Allowance-45 to State Pension Age 
			Widowed Parent's Allowance-16 and over 
			 Attendance Allowance(12) 2.4 15 65 and over 
			 Council Tax Benefit(13) 9.7 12.4 16 and over 
			 Carers Allowance(14) 0.7 0.9 16 and over 
			 Housing Benefit(15) 7.8 9.7 16 and over 
			 Disability Living Allowance(12) 4.5 4.5 All(17) 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Information is not available at UK level and can be provided only at GB level.
	2. No information about the percentage of people claiming the child tax credit is yet available. As at July 2004, about 4.37 million in-work families in the United Kingdom were receiving the child tax credit.
	3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
	4. Housing benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases.
	5. Incapacity benefit totals include credit-only cases.
	6. People up to age 65 can claim disability living allowance(DLA), although no new claims are allowed once a person reaches the age of 65. People who reach 65 can continue receiving DLA if it is already in payment.
	7. Column Percentage of relevant population, refers to those in receipt of benefit within the age group stated in the third column.
	Sources:
	1. IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample.
	2. Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2003.
	3. IAD information Centre, 100 per cent. sample.
	4. Housing Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2003(12) .
	5. Population data sources: Office for National Statistics (ONS) and General Register Office, Scotland (GROS) using the mid 2003 population estimates.

Child Support Agency

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral evidence of the right hon. Member for Oxford East (Mr. Smith) of 11 February to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, on the Child Support Agency reforms, when the recovery programme to enable old CSA cases to be transferred to the new system began; how many cases have so far been transferred; how many cases are still to be transferred; what upgrades to the telephony and computer system have been made; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Steve Webb dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Right honourable Member for Oxford East's oral statement of 11th February to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, on the Child Support Agency reforms, when the recovery programme to enable old CSA cases to be transferred to the new system began; how many cases have so far been transferred; how many cases are still to be transferred; what upgrades to the telephony and computer system have been made; and if he will make a statement.
	EDS commenced their remediation work on their computer system last November following an external review commissioned by them. Its intention is to remove defects within that system. They will then provide the software necessary to migrate existing cases to their new system. Meanwhile, the only cases moving from the existing IT system to the new system are those linked in some way to a new application. At the end of 30 June 2004 around 409,000 cases had been migrated. At the same date around 893,000 cases remained on the 'old system'.
	Since November EDS have made the following upgrades to their computer and telephony service:
	Four CS2 computer system upgrades in January, March, May and July. These upgrades addressed system defects, principally the rectification of issues with stuck cases. They also delivered a number of functional and performance improvements in the areas of system throughput, system stability and response times.
	Two telephony system upgrades in January and March which addressed synchronisation problems between the CS2 system and the telephony system, leading to service improvements in the number of calls answered, and improved system stability.
	Three Management Information System releases delivering improvements in the range and quality of operational, management and statutory reports.

Child Support Agency

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assistance the Child Support Agency is able to give applicants for child support in investigating the financial circumstances of the parent responsible for paying child support.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. David Kidney dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assistance the Child Support Agency is able to give applicants for child support in investigating the financial circumstances of the parent responsible for paying child support.
	The Child Support Agency does not directly assist applicants to investigate the financial circumstances of the parent responsible for paying child support. If the applicant has concerns regarding the circumstances of a non-resident parent in receipt of benefit, it will normally refer the case to Jobcentre Plus to investigate. If the non-resident parent is an employee the Agency can verify the financial circumstances through the employer or through liaison with the Inland Revenue. If the non-resident parent is self employed then liaison with the Inland Revenue can also be used or we can seek to inspect the relevant business records.
	Since January 2001 it has been a criminal offence, for anyone involved in an application for child support, to provide false information 1 .
	1 Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000, Section 13(b), inserted this Section 14 offence into the Child Support Act 1991, on the 31/01/01.

Child Support Agency

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how many children, broken down by age, Child Support Agency payments have been calculated in each year since the Agency's inception.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr Frank Field dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for how many children broken down by age Child Support Agency payments have been calculated in each year since the Agency's inception.
	I am not able to provide the information you seek in this format. I can however indicate the number of qualifying children linked to the Agency's caseload in each year.
	
		
			 Period (As at March) Number 
		
		
			 New System:  
			 2003 12,900 
			 2004 328,500 
			 Old System:  
			 1999 1,273,900 
			 2000 1,420,500 
			 2001 1,459,300 
			 2002 1,488,500 
			 2003 1,373,700 
			 2004 1,064,100

Child Support Agency

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents with care applied for Child Support Agency (CSA) maintenance after 1 March 2003 and have been prevented from applying on the new scheme because the absent parent is judged by the CSA as having to pay maintenance for children from a previous partner under the old scheme.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many parents with care applied for Child Support Agency (CSA) maintenance after 1st March 2003 and have been prevented from applying on the new scheme because the absent parent is judged by the CSA as having to pay maintenance for children from a previous partner under the old scheme.
	No parents with care have been prevented from applying on the new scheme because the non-resident parent is judged by the CSA as having to pay maintenance for children from a previous partner under the old scheme.

Child Support Agency

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the EDS contract for the Child Support Agency's new IT system.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
	Letter from Mike Isaac to Mr. Frank Field, dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As he is currently on leave I am replying on his behalf.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the EDS contract for the Child Support Agency's new IT system.
	The EDS contract is commercially sensitive and is accordingly regarded as confidential to the parties involved in it. This is in line with Paragraph 13, Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Child Support Agency

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest time taken to process a Child Support Agency case from when the application is made to closure or the payment of maintenance to the parent with care was in the last period for which figures are available.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my right hon. Friend with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Frank Field, dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) shortest (b) average and (c) longest time taken to process a Child Support Agency case from when the application is made to closure or the payment of maintenance to the parent with care was in the last period for which figures are available.
	I am unable to provide the information that you have requested because we do not collect or hold it in this way.

Child Support Agency

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost of the new computer system for the Child Support Agency is to date.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Nigel Dodds, dated 4 November 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total cost of the new computer system for the Child Support Agency is to date?
	Between 3rd March 2003 and 19th September 2004, EDS were paid 62.08 million. In that period the Agency retained 12.1 million because of performance problems.

Child Support Scheme

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place the latest New Child Support Scheme Progress Report in the Library.

Chris Pond: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 28 October 2004, Official Report, columns 5557WS.

Citibank

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether there is an agreed maximum time that Citibank may take to process (a) State Pension payments and (b) other benefit payments; on how many occasions the agreed time has been breached; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many outstanding (a) state pension payments and (b) other benefits are awaiting processing by Citibank;
	(3)  how long on average Citibank are taking to process (a) pension payments and (b) other benefits; and what the average length of time taken was in the five years prior to the awarding of the contract for payments to Citibank.

Chris Pond: The Department of Work and Pensions has a contract with Post Office Ltd. (POL) for the provision of the Post Office card account at post offices. POL in turn has a contract with Electronic Data Services (EDS) and Citibank for the provision of the banking element to these services. In line with all other major banks, Citibank receive payment data on the second day of an overall three day BACS cycle and have the payment information credited to Post Office card accounts by 9.00 am on day three of the cycle. There have been no occasions identified when Citibank have breached this timescale. The only State Pension payments and other benefits awaiting processing by Citibank are those within the BACS cycle. The three-day BACS timescale for Citibank to process payments has been in operation in the five years prior to the awarding of the contract for the Post Office card account.
	We are unable to make any comment on accounts run by Citibank other than the Post Office card account.

Correspondence

Andrew Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Chief Executive of the Pension Service expects to reply to the letters to him of 18 May and 3 August from the hon. Member for Basingstoke on behalf of his constituent, Mrs. F. Hughes.

Malcolm Wicks: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 27 October 2004.

Council Tax Benefit

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of pensioners (a) were in receipt of council tax benefit in 1997 and (b) are in receipt of council tax benefit.

Chris Pond: The information is in the table.
	
		Council tax benefit (CTB) beneficiaries aged 60 and over, Great Britain: May 1997 and 2003
		
			  CTB beneficiaries aged 60 and over (Thousand) CTB Beneficiaries aged 60 and over as percentage of relevant population 
		
		
			 1997 3,229 27.5 
			 2003 2,815 23.2 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Caseload figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and subject to a degree of sampling variation.
	2. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place and caseloads to the nearest thousand.
	3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
	4. Beneficiaries are all claimants and partners aged 60 or over.
	5. No figures on the number of recipients of council tax benefit have been produced since the introduction of pension credit.
	Sources:
	1. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 1997 and 2003.
	2. Office for National Statistics mid year population estimates 1997 and 2003.

Jobcentres (North Wales)

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many clients attended each Jobcentre not due for closure in North Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Kennedy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to my hon. Friend.
	Letter from David Anderson to Mr. Chris Ruane, dated 4 November 2004
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many clients attended each Jobcentre not due for closure in North Wales in each of the last ten years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	I am unable to state the exact number of callers to each of the Jobcentres staying open covering the last ten years. Information showing the monthly average number of clients registering for Jobseeker's Allowance in each of the last ten years ending in August is shown in the table attached. Separate records are not available for some of the very small sites, and their figures are included in their parent office within the same chain of management. Each of these customers is expected to attend the Jobcentre every fortnight for an interview about their job search activity and they represent most of the traffic into the offices.
	
		Monthly average number of clients registering for jobseeker's allowance in each of the last 10 years ending in August
		
			  1 September to 31 August 
			  199495 199596 199697 199798 199899 
		
		
			 Bangor 1,971 1,910 1,968 1,558 1,427 
			 Caemarfon 1,654 1,563 1,617 1,357 1,161 
			 Colwyn Bay 1,522 1.441 1,341 865 884 
			 Flint 449 360 317 235 267 
			 Holyhead and Amlwch 2,081 1,813 1,814 1,439 1,285 
			 Llandudno 1,843 1,845 1.888 1,261 1,154 
			 Llangefni 929 824 874 708 664 
			 Mold 1,685 1,467 1,326 879 750 
			 Porthma dog and Dolgellau Pwlheli 1,186 1,148 965 793 655 
			 Rhyl 3,374 3,256 3,355 1,652 1.339 
			 Shotton 1,248 1,053 1,113 779 787 
			 Wrexham 5,163 4,679 4,435 3,014 2,655 
		
	
	
		
			  1 September to 31 August 
			  19992000 200001 200102 200203 200304 
		
		
			 Bangor 1,211 1,145 1,053 887 787 
			 Caemarf on 1,019 869 836 732 589 
			 Colwyn Bay 828 688 646 783 710 
			 Flint 272 259 227 234 229 
			 Holyhead and Amlwch 1,170 1,024 1,071 889 774 
			 Llandudno 1,019 879 745 419 348 
			 Llangefni 601 580 544 490 502 
			 Mold 701 638 493 480 447 
			 Porthma dog and Dolgellau Pwlheli 559 485 401 331 237 
			 Rhyl 1,198 1,094 994 831 741 
			 Shotton 766 689 677 609 619 
			 Wrexham 2,329 2,120 1,971 1,986 1,571 
		
	
	Work is currently in progress to develop options for Flexible Service Delivery in the locations where offices will close. This work will, of course, be undertaken in partnership with MPs, Assembly Members and other relevant stakeholders to tailor these options to meet the needs of the local community.
	I hope this is helpful.

Pension Credit

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how much money available for pension credit has not been claimed because of non-take up by pensioners.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available. The most recent available estimates of the amount of money unclaimed by pensioners entitled to the main income-related benefits relate to the financial year 20012002 and cover the Minimum Income Guarantee (which Pension Credit replaced in 2003), Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. These estimates are published in the Department's report: Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-up in 20012002, a copy of which is in the Library.

Pensioners

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of pensioners receive an income from their own investments or savings.

Malcolm Wicks: The latest available information shows that, in 200203, 86 per cent. of pensioner units in Great Britain were in receipt of some private income on top of state benefits (92 per cent. of pensioner couples and 82 per cent. of single pensioners.)
	66 per cent. of all pensioner units had some private pension (occupational and/or personal pension) income, of which, 61 per cent. of all pensioner units received an occupational pension income and 9 per cent. some income from a personal pension.
	72 per cent. of all pensioner units had income from private investments. However, half of all pensioner units receiving investment income receive less than 4 per week, and only a small number of pensioners receive large amounts of income from investments (roughly 5 per cent. have investment income of over 150 per week).
	Notes:
	1. The FRS, and hence the Pensioners' Incomes Series 200203, does not reflect the situation of roughly 280,000 pensioners in care homes.
	2. Pensioner units are either:
	a. Single pensioners, i.e. people over state pension age; or
	b. Pensioner couples i.e. married or cohabiting pensioners where the man is over state pension age.
	Source
	Pensioners' Incomes Series 200203 based upon data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS).

Pensioners

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham received (a) winter fuel payments and (b) free television licences in 2003.

Malcolm Wicks: In winter 200304 there were 20,500 households in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham which received the winter fuel payment.
	The number of households with at least one resident aged 75 or over in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham is 9,165. Each of these households would therefore be eligible for a free TV licence.
	Notes:
	1. Number is rounded to the nearest five.
	2. Any residence found to have four or more occupants is not included in these figures as it is assumed to be a residential care or nursing home.
	3. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, WFP data winter 200304 100 per cent. sample.

Pensioners

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) men and (b) women living in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham are in receipt of the state retirement pension; what percentage of the borough's population these figures represent; and how many pensioners living in the borough are in receipt of the additional payments made to pensioners over the age of 80 years.

Malcolm Wicks: The number of men and women living in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham who were in receipt of state pension as at 31 March 2004 and the percentage of the borough's population these figures represent is in the table:
	
		
			  Recipients of state pension in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham Percentage of the London borough of Barking and Dagenham population 
		
		
			 Men 8,500 10.6 
			 Women 15,600 18.1 
			 All 24,100 14.5 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. State pension recipient figures relate to people getting any state pension (basic or additional) or graduated retirement benefit who reside in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham.
	2. Population figures are taken from mid-2003.
	3. The population data source is the Office for National Statistics.
	4. Figures for state pension recipients and age addition are from a 5 per cent. sample and are rounded to the nearest hundred.
	5. The additional winter fuel payment figure represents a 100 per cent. sample rounded to the nearest five.
	6. Figures for state pension recipients and age addition payments are obtained from a 5 per cent. sample of cases and are therefore subject to a high degree of sampling variation.
	7. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
	Source:
	1. IAD information centre, 5 per cent. sample for state pension and age addition figures.
	2. IAD information centre, 100 per cent. sample for winter fuel payment figure.
	As at 31 March 2004, there were 6,800 state pension recipients in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham over the age of 80 in receipt of the age addition to state pension.
	In winter 200304, the total number of pensioners in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham who received the additional winter fuel payment for those aged 80 or over was 5,965.

Pensions

Lembit �pik: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the percentage increase in the State Pension has been since May 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the following table:
	
		
			  Percentage increase  on previous year Retail Prices Index percentage 
		
		
			 199798 2.1 2.1 
			 199899 3.6 3.6 
			 19992000 3.2 3.2 
			 200001 1.1 1.1 
			 200102 7.4 3.3 
			 200203 4.1 1.7 
			 200304 2.6 1.7 
			 200405 2.8 2.8 
		
	
	State Pension is increased each year to ensure that, as a minimum, it retains its value in relation to prices. For the future lifetime of this Parliament we are committed to increasing the basic State Pension by the higher of 2.5 per cent, or the Retail Prices Index. For the years 200102 to 200304, the basic State Pension only was increased by more than the Retail Prices Index.

Pensions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) self-employed people, (b) people earning less than the lower earnings limit, (c) unemployed people and (d) other non-contributing people did not have second-tier pension arrangements in each year since 2002.

Malcolm Wicks: We estimate that there are around 7 million people who are not accruing State Second Pension rights nor making private pension provision.
	These seven million consist of:
	(a) 1.5 million self-employed
	(b) 1.2 million employees earning less than the lower earnings limit
	(c) 1.1 million unemployed
	(d) 3.2 million other non-contributors.
	Note:
	1. These figures have been estimated using the Family Resources Survey, 200203.

Pensions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the number of people who are contracted out of the State Second Pension.

Malcolm Wicks: At the end of the 200001 tax yearthe latest year for which information is availableit is estimated that there were around 14.3 million people contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme. We expect to be able to publish estimates of the number of people contracted out of the State Second Pension in the 200102 and 200203 tax years by the end of this year.

Pensions

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of the state pension in the City of Edinburgh local authority area.

Malcolm Wicks: As at 31 March 2004, the number of people in receipt of State Pension in the city of Edinburgh Local Authority was 74,000. Of these 26,300 were male and 47,800 were female.
	Source:
	IAD information Centre, 5 per cent, sample.
	Notes:
	1. State Pension recipient figures relate to people getting any State Pension (basic or additional) or Graduated Retirement Benefit who reside in the city of Edinburgh Local Authority.
	2. Figures are taken from a 5 per cent, sample and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation.
	3. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and totals may not sum due to rounding
	4. Local Authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics, postcode directory.

Pensions

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners living in the UK are in receipt of supplementary benefits.

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available.
	As at May 2003, the latest date for which this information is available, the total number of beneficiaries, aged 60 and over, receiving income-related benefits in Great Britain was 3.28 million. Income-related benefits include income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit and job seekers allowance (income based).
	Pension credit replaced income support for people aged 60 and over from 6 October 2003. As at 31 August 2004 there were 2.61 million households, equivalent to 3.17 million individuals, receiving pension credit.
	Notes:
	1. The figures are based on 1 per cent. and 5 per cent. samples and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
	2. The income-related benefits, figure excludes all overlaps between benefit recipients and refers to those in receipt of at least one of the following benefits: HB/CTB/IS/JSA(IB).

Pensions

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of average earnings the state pension was in each year since 1997.

Malcolm Wicks: The information as is available is set out in the table.
	
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 199798 21 
			 199899 20 
			 19992000 20 
			 200001 19 
			 200102 20 
			 200203 20 
			 200304 20 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. State pension figures are derived from a five per cent. sample of Department for Work and Pensions administrative data taken at March in each year.
	2. Average earnings is represented by the average earnings of all adult full-time employees taken from the Annual Abstract of Statistics 2003 published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
	3. State pension is calculated as the maximum rate of basic state pension plus the average amount of additional state pension in payment for recently retired men aged 65 and women aged 60.
	4. The figures have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.

Press Officers

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many press officers the Department has employed in each of the past five years.

Maria Eagle: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed on 8 June 2001 from parts of the former Department of Social Security, the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information on costs prior to 2001 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  National press officers Regional press officers 
		
		
			 200102 21 0 
			 200203 16 13 
			 200304 20 20 
		
	
	Note:
	Staffing figures are whole time equivalents.

SERPS

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 19 October 2004, Official Report, column 639W, on SERPS, what rating was applied to the (a) basic state pension and (b) additional state pension in each of the past 10 years.

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the table.
	
		
			 Uprating date Basic state pension percentage increase on previous year Additional state pension percentage increase on previous year 
		
		
			 April 1995 2.2 2.2 
			 April 1996 3.9 3.9 
			 April 1997 2.1 2.1 
			 April 1998 3.6 3.6 
			 April 1999 3.2 3.2 
			 April 2000 1.1 1.1 
			 April 2001 7.4 3.3 
			 April 2002 4.1 1.7 
			 April 2003 2.6 1.7 
			 April 2004 2.8 2.8

Sure Start

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mothers in Cleethorpes constituency have received Sure Start maternity grants in each year since 1997.

Chris Pond: Sure Start maternity Grants were introduced in 200001 to replace maternity grants. The change was phased in from 27 March 2000, with Sure Start maternity grants being available to claimants whose babies were expected, born, adopted or the subject of a parental order on or after 11 June 2000.
	Data are not available by Parliamentary Constituency, only by District.
	The available information is in the tables.
	
		Awards in South Humberside Social Fund District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 199798 MP 1,596 
		
	
	
		Awards in area covered by Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 199899 MP 2,026 
			 199900 MP 1,941 
			 200001 MP 226 
			 200001 SSMG 2,061 
		
	
	
		Awards in (enlarged) Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 2001/02 SSMG 3,045 
			 2002/03 to Oct SSMG 2,139 
		
	
	
		Awards in area covered by (reduced) Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 200203 Nov SSMG 275 
		
	
	
		Awards in area covered by South Humberside Interim District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 200203 from Dec SSMG 538 
			 200304 to May SSMG 277 
		
	
	
		Awards in area covered by South Humberside Jobcentre Plus District
		
			  Award type Number of awards 
		
		
			 200304 from June SSMG 1,505 
		
	
	Source:
	DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System
	Note: Cleethorpes Parliamentary Constituency has formed part of the Grimsby site since before 1997. This site has been involved in a large number of boundary changes since 1997:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 199798 Cleethorpes Parliamentary Constituency was part of the Grimsby site within South Humberside Social Fund District 
			 Apr 1998 Grimbsy site (which includes Cleethorpes) moved into Wash Coast Social Fund District and the new district renamed Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District 
			 Apr 2001 Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District enlarged by the addition of Scunthorpe site. 
			 Nov 2002 Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District reduced by the export of Skegness, Louth and Boston. 
			 Dec 2002 Mercia Operations East Eastern Division Social Fund District further reduced by the export of Kings Lynn, and renamed South Humberside Interim District 
			 Jun 2003 South Humberside Interim District enlarged by the addition of Isle of Axholme and renamed South Humberside Jobcentre Plus District. 
		
	
	The 6 tables above therefore refer to six different areas, so the data in different tables are not comparable.

TV Licence Fees

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households in the London borough of Wandsworth are in receipt of a free television licence.

Malcolm Wicks: The number of households with at least one resident aged 75 or over in the London borough of Wandsworth is 10,370. Each of these households would therefore be eligible for a free TV licence.
	Notes
	1. Number is rounded to the nearest five.
	2. Any residence found to have four or more occupants is not included in these figures as it is assumed to be a Residential Care or Nursing Home.
	3. Local Authorities have been allocated using the relevant ONS postcode directory.
	Source
	IAD Information Centre, WFP data winter 20032004 100 per cent. sample.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Responsibilities

Robert Key: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners if he will list the responsibilities for which he answers to the House.

Stuart Bell: The Second Church Estates Commissioner answers in relation to the Church Commissioners' trustee responsibilities, namely the management of their investment portfolio; their funding commitments for clergy pensions, the work of bishops and cathedrals and the support of parish ministry in areas of need; and the administration of the legal framework for pastoral reorganisation and settling the future of redundant churches. These responsibilities are closely interwoven with the full range of the Church of England's activityits nation-wide ministry and the upkeep of its built heritageand the Second Commissioner will speak more broadly to those areas when the matter raised by hon. Members requires it.

TRANSPORT

Air Pollution (Heathrow)

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the effects on air pollution of widening the M4 around Heathrow.

David Jamieson: An air quality assessment was made of the effects on air pollution of proposals to widen the M4 between Junctions 34b in connection with Heathrow Terminal 5. It was included in the Environmental Statement published in May 1996 with the Draft Highway Orders. The assessment covered a range of pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, fine particles, carbon monoxide and benzene. The air quality assessment was further developed in connection with the Planning Inquiry for Heathrow Terminal 5.

Buses

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the proportion of the national bus fleet which is subject to annual random inspections by the Traffic Commissioners.

Charlotte Atkins: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) carries out targeted roadworthiness inspections of coaches and buses through spot and fleet checks as part of its work to support the Traffic Commissioners. During 200304 some 25,000 vehicles were inspected as a result of these checks representing an annual proportion of approximately 29 per cent. of the national bus and coach fleet.

Buses

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many buses were inspected by Vehicle and Operator Services Agency officials in each of the last five years; and how many were subject to (a) immediate prohibition notices and (b) delayed prohibition notices.

Charlotte Atkins: Data held on the number of public service vehicles (PSVs) inspected by Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) includes all buses and coaches licensed to carry nine or more fare paying passengers. Details of roadworthiness inspections carried out on these vehicles are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Roadworthiness spot and fleet checks(13) Exhaust emissions checks  
			   Prohibition rates at roadworthiness spot checks (Percentage) Prohibition rates at fleet roadworthiness Checks (Percentage)  Number of prohibitions issued  
			  Number of vehicles examined Immediate Delayed Immediate Delayed Number of vehicles examined Immediate Delayed 
		
		
			 200304 25,112 7.3 8.0 6.6 7.5 5,402 4 12 
			 200203 24,669 6.3 8.2 6.6 7.9 5,447 3 24 
			 200102 23,086 6.8 8.7 5.6 7.6 6,733 3 37 
			 200001 26,357 6.10 8.4 5.4 6.6 6,919 0 36 
			 19992000 28,814 5.9 7.5 4.9 6.0 8,827 2 43 
		
	
	(13) These figures exclude vehicles checked as part of the annual PSV baseline survey. Only one prohibition notice is issued per vehicle although it may list several defects/offences
	In addition to roadworthiness items VOSA examiners also check for drivers hours, tachograph and records offences as well as overloading. Serious infringements can result in drivers and/or vehicles being prohibited. Details of prohibitions issued for these infringements during the last five years are shown in the table:
	
		
			  Number of vehicles examined (including the number weighed) Prohibited for drivers hours, tachograph and records(14) Prohibited for overloading 
		
		
			 200304 13,450 364 14 
			 200203 13,265 226 11 
			 200102 10,768 96 8 
			 200001 15,003  7 
			 19992000 17,161  5 
		
	
	(14) Prohibitions for drivers hours offences for UK vehicles were only introduced in 200102

Buses

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Vehicle and Operator Services Agency officials in each of the English regions are responsible for (a) checking the safety of bus vehicles and (b) surveying the reliability and punctuality of bus services.

Charlotte Atkins: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) deploys some 1,100 frontline staff responsible among other duties for checking the safety of public service vehicles (PSVs) throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
	Nine Bus Compliance Officers (BCOs) responsible for surveying the reliability and punctuality of bus services are deployed in the five English regions of the Traffic Area Network. They are distributed on the following basis:
	
		
			 Traffic area Number of BCOs 
		
		
			 North Eastern/North Western 3 
			 West Midlands 1 
			 Western 2 
			 South Eastern and Metropolitan 2 
			 Eastern 1

Departmental Estate

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the properties occupied by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2004; and what the (A) area and (B) annual rental value (1) in aggregate and (2) in each case was in each year.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002 and as a result the information provided relates to the period from then. As a result information is available only for 200304.
	The information requested relating to the year 200304 covers over a thousand properties and has been placed in the Libraries of the House. Some information requested relating to smaller properties is not kept on record centrally, but by the Agency in question. To obtain this information would result in a disproportionate cost.

Press Officers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many press officers the Department has employed in each of the past five years.

Charlotte Atkins: holding answer 1 November 2004
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. McNulty) to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 25 March 2004 Official Report, columns 98384W.

ITC Consultants

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Department spent on outside information technology and communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 200304 financial year.

Charlotte Atkins: The value of orders raised in 2003/04 for information technology and communications specialist consultants and engineers by the Department for Transport was 5,541,670.25.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the running costs of Ministers' private offices in his Department have been in each year since 1997.

Charlotte Atkins: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, East (Mr. McNulty) gave to the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) on 15 July 2003, Official Report, column 170W. The final outturn for the running costs of Ministers' private offices in 200304 is 1.4 million.

Motor Traders

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what security measures have been taken to protect the public from terrorist use of vehicles passed between motor traders.

Charlotte Atkins: holding answer 3 November 2004
	Motor traders are not currently required to be recorded as vehicle keepers on the DVLA records. They generally sell vehicles on quickly and do not want to devalue them by adding additional keepers to the record.
	One of the recommendations of the Home Office-led Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team (VCRAT) report was that the movement of vehicles between motor traders, as well as in and out of the trade, should be recorded. An electronic system for this purpose will be introduced by DVLA in 2005. This will ensure that DVLA will have details of where such vehicles are at any time, and which traders are involved. The new system will make vehicles in the hands of the motor trade less attractive to criminals and terrorists.

Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures his Department (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake to comply with the Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order 2003.

Charlotte Atkins: The only combined heat and power plant on the DfT estate is operated by the DVLA at their Morriston site in Swansea and has been operational since June. It generates about 50 per cent. of the electricity needed at the large site accommodating some 4,500 staff and as a consequence is likely to make a major contribution to the Department achieving the framework target of obtaining 15 per cent. of electricity form CHP by 2010. DVLA was awarded the Energy Management/Environmental Award from the Energy Industries Council Utilities Awards 2004 for the organisation that has invested in energy management initiatives to take into account their impact on the environment.
	Elsewhere in the Department we will be looking to OGC buying solutions to assist in sourcing and procuring energy from CHP generators in the energy market using their expertise and significant buying power.

Temporary Staff

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department or its predecessors in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport was formed on 29 May 2002. Due to machinery of Government changes, information on temporary agency staff who have worked or who are currently working for DfT (C) is only available from December 2002, broken down as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 December 2002 35 
			 January 2003 to December 2003 93 
			 January 2004 to date 80

Train Fares

Bob Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will investigate the level of unregulated train fares; and what measures are in place to control such fares;
	(2)  by how much (a) regulated and (b) unregulated rail fares have changed in each year since 1997, (i) in total and (ii) broken down by train operating company.

Tony McNulty: Unregulated fares are a commercial matter for the train operating companies.
	The average price changes in regulated and unregulated fares since 1995 are set out in the Rail Fares Index in the Strategic Rail Authority's Document National Rail Trends Yearbook 200304. Copies of this publication are available in the House Library. Information on fare changes by individual train operating companies is not available.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Commercial Property Leases (Consultation)

Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many responses the Government received to the recent Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consultation paper, Commercial Property Leases: Options for Deterring or Outlawing the Use of Upward Only Rent Review Clauses; and if he will break down the number of responses by (a) representative organisations, (b) landlords and (c) property occupiers.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has received 87 responses to its consultation on options for deterring or outlawing the use of upward only rent review clauses in commercial property leases. We are currently analysing the responses and a breakdown of respondents by category will be available when the results of consultation are published next year.

Departmental Publications (Accessibility)

Paul Goodman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many and what proportion of publications issued by his Department are available in (a) Braille, (b) autoprint, (c) large print and (d) easy read format.

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister complies with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995. All current publications in (a) Braille, (b) print-on-demand, (c) large print and (d) easy read formats are available on request and contracts are in place to ensure that such requests can be satisfied within a short time period.
	Within the last 12 months the following specific requests have been made:
	3,422 copies in Braille;
	seven copies in print-on-demand;
	30,032 copies in large print
	one audio and
	0 copies in easy read formats.

Employment (Greater London)

Tom Cox: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had on the use of European structural funds to create employment in the Greater London area.

Phil Hope: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has held no recent discussions on the use of European structural funds in London, but Ministers receive regular reports on progress with the delivery of European structural funds programmes in London and elsewhere.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is just over midway through the 200006 Objective 2, Objective 3 and Urban II structural funds programmes in London. These provide over 600 million to support economic development and tackle barriers to labour market participation. Targets over the lifetime of the three programmes include the creation of over 23,000 jobs.

Land Reclassification

Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many hectares of land were reclassified from (a) agricultural and (b) industrial-commercial use to land for residential use in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Keith Hill: Proportions of land changing to residential use by previous use in England between 1999 and 2003 are tabled as follows.
	Agriculture accounted for 40 per cent. of land changing to residential use in 1999, but this has decreased to 30 per cent. in 2003. The proportion of land changing to residential use from industrial and commercial land has remained at about 12 per cent. throughout the period. A further 29 per cent. of land changing to residential use in 2003 was from vacant and derelict land and much of this will at one time have been industrial and commercial land.
	Estimates for absolute amounts changing in any one year are not reliable. Over the last few years the average amount of land changing to residential has been about 5,500 to 6,000 hectares a year.
	
		Previous use of land changing to residential use in England: 199903 1, 2
		
			 Previous uses 1999 3 2000 2001 2002 2003 4 
		
		
			 Agriculture 40 39 32 30 30 
			 Other not previously-developed 14 14 14 13 12 
			   
			 All not previously-developed land 54 53 46 43 42 
			   
			 Industry and commerce 12 10 12 13 12 
			 Vacant and derelict land 20 21 24 25 29 
			 Other previously-developed land 14 16 18 20 17 
			 All previously-developed land 46 47 54 57 58 
			   
			 All land changing to residential use 100 100 100 100 100 
		
	
	(15) Information relates to map changes recorded by Ordnance Survey as at the end of 2003, where the year of change has been estimated by surveyors from available information.
	(16) Percentages for the most recent years may have a margin of error of 2 per cent. as new data are added.
	(17) 1999 estimates subject to some uncertainty due to incomplete data.
	(18) Provisional.

Park and Ride Schemes

David Atkinson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's latest guidance to local authorities is on the development of park and ride schemes.

Keith Hill: Policy on park and ride schemes is set out in Planning Policy Guidance note (PPG) 13 (2001) on Transport. The key elements are that schemes need to be developed as an integral part of the planning and transport strategy for the area, schemes need to be subject to robust assessment, including the consideration of alternative sites, the impact on local amenities and travel. PPG 13 Annex E amends PPG 2 on park and ride schemes in the green belt.

Phone Masts

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in what circumstances it is acceptable for a mobile communications mast to be operated without a valid ICNIRP certificate being available for public inspection.

Keith Hill: The Stewart Group recommended that, as a precautionary approach, the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure be adopted for use in the UK rather than the NRPB guidelines (paragraph 1.27 of the report) but were not convinced of the need to incorporate the ICNIRP guidelines in statutes. (1.28)
	The Government agreed that in line with the recommended precautionary approach, that the emissions from mobile phones and base stations should meet the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure as expressed in the EU Council Recommendation of 12 July 1999 on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300GHz). The Government further agreed that the guidelines did not need to be incorporated into statutes.
	Planning Policy Guidance Note 8 on Telecommunications states that
	All new mobile phone base stations are expected meet the ICNIRP guidelines. However, all applicants should include with their applications, a statement that self-certifies to the effect that the mobile phone base stations when operational will meet the guidelines. In line with the Group's recommendations the mobile network operator should also provide to the local authority a statement for each site indicating its location, the height of the antenna, the frequency and modulation characteristics and details of power output. Where a mobile phone base station is added to an existing mast or site, the operator should confirm that the cumulative exposure will not exceed the ICNIRP guidelines.

Phone Masts

John Cryer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers are available to local authorities to prevent the erection of mobile telecommunications masts when permission has been refused.

Keith Hill: Development that has gone ahead without the required permission can be considered by the local planning authority to be a breach of planning control and the local planning authority can take remedial enforcement action. They have a wide range of discretionary powers. The local planning authority must decide the most appropriate action in each case in the light of local circumstances.
	Under powers in the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act, as amended by the 1991 Planning and Compensation Act, local-planning authorities have:
	the power to serve a planning contravention notice. This may be used where it appears that there may have been a breach of planning control and the local planning authority require information about the activities on the land or to find out more about the nature of the recipient's interest in the land.
	the power to issue an 'enforcement notice', requiring steps to be taken to remedy the breach within a given period. There is a right of appeal to the Secretary of State against an enforcement notice. If the notice is upheld, failure to comply is an offence with a maximum penalty on conviction of 20,000.
	the power to serve a stop notice. This has the effect of immediately stopping any activity which contravenes planning control guidelines and where there are special reasons which justify doing this. If contravened the resulting offence can be prosecuted in the magistrates court with a maximum penalty on conviction of 20,000.
	the power to serve a breach of condition notice where there is a failure to comply with any condition or limitation imposed on a grant of planning permission.
	the ability to seek an injunction in the High Court or county court to restrain any
	actual or expected breach of planning control.
	powers of entry on to land for authorised officers of the local planning authority for them to obtain information required for enforcement purposes.

Phone Masts

Richard Spring: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions about mast sharing he has held with (a) telecommunication companies and (b) local authorities as an alternative to the development of new mast sites.

Keith Hill: Ministers in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister meet regularly with the Mobile Operators Association to discuss a range of issues including the operators' progress in meeting their 10 commitments which includes a commitment on site sharing. The Association also sends statistics relating to site sharing to the Planning Minister every quarter. Ministers have not discussed this issue with representatives of local planning authorities.

PPG8

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to revise Planning Policy Guidance Note 8.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to change Planning Policy Guidance Note 8 (revised) at present.

Regeneration Funding

David Chaytor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to incorporate the information contained in the 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation into future allocations of regeneration funding; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: It will be up to individual Government Departments how to use the revised Indices of Deprivation 2004 (ID04) to allocate their funds. For funds distributed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, such as the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF), no decision has yet been taken on how ID04 might be used to help determine future allocations.
	Spending Review 2004 (SRO4) made available just over 1 billion of new NRF resources (525 million in 200607 and 525 million for 200708). No decisions have yet been made on how these resources are to be allocated. Ministers are considering options for allocating the NRF for these years in the light of all available evidence, including the ID04. A decision on the final allocations is expected in the new year.
	The allocation of NRF resources has already been determined for 200405 and 200506. For these years the resources will continue to go to the 88 existing NRF areas.

Housing Development

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what interim guidance his Department will give to district local authorities on housing numbers up to 2016 if county structure plans are withdrawn before regional spatial strategies are adopted; and if he will make a statement.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issued policy guidance in September, entitled Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Frameworks, explaining what local planning authorities need to take into account when preparing their frameworks. It advises how authorities can deal with issues such as housing numbers during the transition from the old system of local plans to local development frameworks. In order to ensure there is strategic policy in place for developing local development frameworks, PPS12 provides for structure plan policies to be saved for a period of three years from commencement of Parts 1 and 2 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 or adoption of the structure plan, whichever is the later. Structure plans can also be saved for a longer period to avoid a policy void provided that there is sufficient justification.
	Officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are currently undertaking a series of regional events with key stakeholders, including local planning authorities, to explain the Government's approach towards local development frameworks and address issues such as this, which, by their nature, will vary according to local circumstances. Following these events, we will consider the need for interim guidance or whether such issues are still best addressed at the individual level.

Sustainable Communities Plan

Brian White: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps (a) his Office and (b) its agencies are taking to ensure the Sustainable Communities plan meets or exceeds the Government's energy objectives of achieving a low carbon economy.

Phil Hope: The Sustainable Communities plan will encourage an energy-efficient built environment through changes to building regulationsincluding better boiler standardsand our Decent Homes programme. We are also supporting exemplary development schemes and research in the Growth Areas, and will pilot the new Code for Sustainable Buildings in the Thames Gateway and elsewhere. In addition, English Partnerships requires residential building on its land to reach the BREEAM EcoHomes very good standard, which includes an assessment of energy efficiency and transport CO 2 impacts. From 200506, the Housing Corporation will require funded affordable housing schemes to reach the EcoHomes good standard.

Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures his Department (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake to comply with the Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order 2003.

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister presently has Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installations operating in two if its London HQ buildings. These units have a capacity of 960 kWh of electrical energy, the waste heat from the CHP units is used to supplement building heating in winter and cooling in summer.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its agencies have adopted the target to source at least 15 per cent. of electricity from Good Quality Combined Heat and Power by 2010 and continues to explore viable schemes for embedded electrical generation. Until such time as suitable systems can be incorporated, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be working with the Office of Government Commerce to obtain sufficient energy from accredited suppliers to meet the targets required by the Sustainable Energy (CHP Provisions) Order 2003 and detailed in specific terms in the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate (Chapter E4).

Temporary Staff

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally.

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed on 29 May 2002. Records are not kept centrally of the recruitment and termination of temporary staff within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. However at any one time the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister employs approximately 120 temporary staff through the employment agencies with whom we have contracts.

PRIME MINISTER

Arctic Medal

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Prime Minister if he will create an Arctic Medal for those who sailed in the Russian convoys.

Tony Blair: The sacrifice of those who sailed in the Russian convoys is of course undisputed. Those who took part in the wartime convoys to Russia were honoured at the time with the award of the Atlantic Star. Indeed, the Command Paper that set out the criteria for the Atlantic Star explicitly included the convoys to North Russia, as recognition of their importance. This remains the position, though these matters are kept under review.

ADVOCATE-GENERAL

Devolution

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Advocate-General what devolution issues she has considered since 25 October.

Lynda Clark: Since 25 October, 23 devolution issues have been intimated to me. 19 of these issues were in the civil sphere and concerned personal injury actions in respect of prison conditions. The remaining four devolution issues related to criminal matters, including pre-trial delay, self-incrimination under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the use of lay justices to determine criminal proceedings in the district courts and one case which raises issues about both the lack of an appeal to the House of Lords in extradition proceedings in Scotland under the Extradition Act 2003, and a challenge to Ministers of the Scottish Executive in relation to extradition proceedings.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Pregnant Workers

Julia Drown: To ask the Minister for Women what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) employers and (b) employees are informed of women's rights at work when pregnant.

Jacqui Smith: Government provide a range of guidance for employers and employees. Additionally, free confidential advice is available from the Acas national telephone helpline.

Women's Pensions

Sally Keeble: To ask the Minister for Women what assessment she has made of proposals in the Turner Report relating to women's pensions.

Patricia Hewitt: The Government welcome the Pensions Commission report, and are well aware that women make up 64 per cent. of the pensioner population. Tackling specific problems that women face in retirement is therefore high on our agenda.

Pension Inequalities

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Minister for Women what assessment she has made of the findings of the First Report of the Pensions Commission in relation to pension inequalities between men and women.

Patricia Hewitt: For today's female pensioners we have introduced pension credit, two thirds of those entitled to pension credit are women. And for future women pensioners, state second pension extends second-tier pension right for the first time to people without earnings who are caring for young children or a disabled adult.
	However, we have acknowledged there is more to be done and will be looking at options in advance of the Pension Commission's final report in autumn 2005.

Non-traditional Work

Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister for Women what plans she has to encourage women to go into non-traditional areas of work.

Patricia Hewitt: I was delighted to participate with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Equal Opportunities Commission's Gender and Productivity Summit last week, where I launched a cross Government plan to encourage women (and men) into non-traditional areas of work.
	This plan will be taken forward in the context of the Women and Work Commission announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 24 July.

Women Priests

Anne Campbell: To ask the Minister for Women what discussions she has had on encouraging the appointment of women priests to the highest offices in the Church.

Jacqui Smith: I fully endorse the views expressed on an earlier occasion by my hon. Friend the Minister for Women. This is a matter for the Church of England, but I am in principle against any kind of glass ceilingstained glass or otherwise.

SCOTLAND

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 23 August from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. J. A. Higham.

Alistair Darling: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 3 November.

Temporary Staff

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally.

Anne McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that date the Office has had a number of individuals under contract from companies that provide staff on a temporary basis. They were engaged to fill vacancies in the complement of the Office and were not additional to the staff numbers reported in the Departmental and Annual Reports of the Office. Many individuals were employed for a short period only; some posts were filled by a succession of individuals. The figures in the table represent the total number of individuals employed:
	
		
			  Number of individual temporary staff 
		
		
			 19992000 13 
			 200001 16 
			 200102 19 
			 200203 15 
			 200304 20

Press Officers

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many press officers the Department has employed in each of the past five years.

Anne McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Details of the number of press officers employed are given in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of press officers 
		
		
			 19992000 4 
			 200001 4 
			 200102 4 
			 200203 4 
			 200304 (19)3 
		
	
	(19) One of whom is part-time.

WALES

Renewable Energy (Planning Guidance)

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he last discussed the implementation of TAN8 with his colleagues in the National Assembly for Wales.

Peter Hain: The implementation of TAN 8 is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales. I understand that they are currently considering responses to the consultation exercise, which closed on 5 November.

Temporary Staff

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally.

Peter Hain: Information is not readily available for the whole period. However, the Wales Office has employed agency temporary staff to cover four posts in 2002, seven in 2003 and nine in 2004.

HOME DEPARTMENT

GM Food

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many convictions there have been against restaurants for failing to display their policy on GM foods in each year since August 1999;
	(2)  how many prosecutions have been brought against restaurants for failing to display their policy on GM foods in each year since August 1999.

Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
	There is no legal obligation for restaurants to display their policy on genetically modified (GM) foods. However, a requirement was introduced in 1999 for caterers to identify any GM ingredients in the foods that they sell. I am not aware of any prosecutions brought against restaurants under the relevant regulations, which came into force in September 1999.

Police (West Midlands)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many ethnic minority police officers there are in the West Midlands region.

Hazel Blears: The Home Office Statistical Bulletin published on 29 September 2004 showed that, on 31 March 2004, West Midlands police had 499 ethnic minority officers out of a total officer strength of 8,008 (6.2 per cent).